Violet
by edieswan
Summary: Sexy rich boy Edward Cullen owns the most prestigious strip club in New York: Violet. Edward's one girl short and begins his search for the next dancer. His new potential? None other than Bella Swan.
1. Assward

**A/N: Hello and welcome to Violet!**

**If you've already been reading this and are wondering why the story is being re-posted, it's because I needed to make some minor changes to the story and felt it would be better re-posting rather than just editing, especially as I have a new username, too!**

**There will be no major changes to the plotline, just silly little ones. Feel free to re-read if you like.**

**Enjoy!**

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**_EPOV_**

"Oh, _fuck_…yes, that's it. Keep doing it like that baby…"

The room around me was dimly lit, with a slight red glow coming from the streetlights just outside the window. The atmosphere was giving off an expensive yet seedy feel which made me smile. I sat back in my black leather chair and plainly revelled as this girl sucked, licked and kissed every inch of my throbbing cock. She delightfully moved her hands around the base and squeezed tenderly until I was almost at the disdainful brink.

_Fuck yes_! She always gave the best blowjobs.

My eyesight slowly became blurry as I watched her blonde head bob zealously up and down my shaft bringing about my impending orgasm, her lips looking sore and swollen. I gazed down at her violin-shaped figure: slim, yet curvy with a beautiful ample ass. Then suddenly, she began sucking me as if her life depended on it. Too fucking right.

"Come on, Edward," she murmured in between milking me, in that sexy voice that I know all too well. "Fucking come for me, baby."

And that was all I needed to take me over the edge.

"Fuuuucck!"

I exploded violently all over the expectant girl's face before she lapped up the sweet liquid that was covering my cock and the clear spaces around her mouth. This girl fucking loved it.

As I moved my hands back from the back of her head, I began to pull my pants back up, not bothering with a belt this time. Belts seemed to be unnecessary in my job – it just meant that the blowjobs came slower and that wasn't essentially a good thing. Fuck that – the quicker the better.

"But Edward, aren't we going to…"

I cut her off before she finished; I knew what she was going to say next but I couldn't be bothered. I was becoming weaker as the night went on which meant no time for fucking. "Sorry, Rosalie," I started. "I don't have time for anything else, babe. You'd better get back home. I've got a lot of work to do now since Leah left. You know we're short on staff so you need to do an outstanding performance for the next few nights and you need your fucking beauty sleep, okay?

She pouted sweetly in a sort of measly protest, but then she got up. We were used to this routine now – she knew not to always expect a fuck. She then giggled as I slapped her naked ass. I watched her closely from my desk as she slipped her skimpy black laced thong back on and her barely-there matching bra. I gazed at her unscrupulously as she put her killer-heels around her slender ankles as they lengthened her already extensive legs. She smiled at me slyly as she headed for the door.

_Scrumptious,_ I thought. _Maybe I'll fuck her tomorrow._

Fucking was beginning to become a rarity in my office, nowadays. Blowjobs were far more convenient and easily done. I could come from a blowjob in a matter of seconds. Fucking, on the other hand, took a little bit more time and effort on my part and with a job like mine, there was no wasting time. Plus, Rosalie was a fucking goddess at giving good head.

Rosalie was also probably the best in my club; I would always get the best feedback from the customers who regularly came to Violet for her. Man, people just came to the club to watch _her._ She could grind down the poles more smoothly than the other girls, and her large breasts and ass were just so fucking brilliant that it was so hard to ignore her as she took the centre pole. At least it was Leah leaving, and not Rosalie.

The girls that I employed at Violet were all inimitable in their own individual way. There was Rosalie, obviously, whose tall physique and curvy figure was completely fucking captivating. She was blonde, with pale soft skin and a harsh yet beautiful face.

Then, there was Alice. She was petite with a smaller frame than Rosalie and smaller tits and ass but the way she could grind down that pole…she was so unbelievably flexible that it was fascinating to watch. And her pussy…man, it was _tight._ Alice, on the occasions that I let her, could fuck brilliantly and her flexibility meant that she could do anything, _literally _anything.

The other girls, Victoria, Jessica and Angela were all fucking cockteases, too. However, Rose and Alice had always been my favourites.

Rosalie and Alice were called to the office much more than the other three.

My office was somewhere I could do the paperwork for my strip joint, but also somewhere I could… let off a little _steam_. A sub-job for my girls was what I liked to refer to as "office work". This was where I could call them to the office and do what ever I fucking felt like with the lovely bitches. Don't get me wrong – it wasn't a forced or a paid job – the girls fucking _loved_ it. That might have been down to the fact that I was Edward fucking Cullen. I even had a column dedicated to my life in the New York Times.

I was the city's resident playboy, I guess you could say. I'd heard other people use that term. It wasn't exactly a lie to say that I fucked a different girl every night; it was fucking hard to resist me. I mean, everywhere I went, girls would throw themselves at me – sometimes literally. Not that I was complaining, of course. I lapped up the attention. I could probably bet that I had done every type of girl in New York: black, white, fat, thin, blonde, brunette…fuck, just everything. Yet, no girl had ever taken my particular liking since I had been in the city – not even Alice or Rosalie.

I just fucking loved all women.

Rosalie and Alice and even the other three girls knew that they were sort of tied to me, though. They weren't my girlfriends – no – Edward Cullen did not date. It might have been a bit logical to compare me to the Hefner himself, but I still didn't call my girls my _girlfriends_. But this meant that those who worked at Violet did not date either – my rules. Not that they minded; I did give them a fuck or so every month just to please them, even though my preferences were pretty blinding obvious. You see, I could be a nice boss, sometimes. However, I was more likely to fuck Rosalie or Alice as they were the best, but I could never purposely pleasure them. It simply wasn't my style, to be completely fucking honest.

Yes, some people called me selfish and yeah, of course I knew that I was pretty fucking self-centred, but the underlying problem was that like any other hot-blooded male, I was scared of commitment – I definitely didn't want to fall in love. I knew that if I gave in and purposely pleasured one of my girls or formed one act of genuine kindness, then maybe I would be irrevocably tied to them. I had seen it with Jacob – my former best friend.

Jake had owned the club with me previously; it was our project after we had completed college together. Of course, our parents help invest in our club despite not knowing was sort of club it was. But Jacob and I turned it into one of the most successful franchises in the whole of Gotham fucking City. We had owned several other clubs over the years, a few restaurants here and there – fuck, we almost owned the Big Apple itself.

The days with Jake were a fucking blast. We would knock down shots all night, snort lines after lines of coke, have hundreds of girls in for "office work" – fuck, it was something. Hell, Jake even helped to pick our girls for the poles in Violet. He was the one who found Rosalie, the belle of the club. But now, her was happily married, living a shit mundane life with my former stripper Leah, with a real shitty office job and he wouldn't even set foot in this club anymore, let alone go back to the lifestyle that we had once shared.

Yeah, he would ring every once and a while to try and convince me to give up the club. He'd tell me all this bullshit like how there was more out there than just booze, sex and drugs. I scoffed at his request; why the fuck would I ever give up the club?

It was rolling in it – in fact – _I _was rolling in it. I was on the Forbes Young Rich List every year and have several times been voted one of the richest, sexiest youngest bachelors of New York. I got the best coke in the city for myself and my workers and never failed to pay the dealers for all the fucking money I spent on that shit. I owned several properties, shares and cars despite also owning other recreational outlets in the city.

I was a fucking good businessman.

But since Leah had left with Jacob, I was short of girls at Violet, my most profiting and enjoyable club. Leah was exquisite: her dark, native-American skin contrasted to all of the other girls and her toned, muscular dancer's body was perfect for her performance on the poles. Yet now, she had put me in a vulnerable position: the ex-king of strip joints, Carlisle Masen, was coming form London to visit Violet in one week's time. If I was short of girls, I couldn't deliver the perfect performance. There were six poles, and now I only had five girls.

Jacob and I had specially picked all of the girls in the early days of developing Violet. They were all unique in their own way, and were the most beautiful girls in America, fuck New York. Of course, it shouldn't be that hard to find a new girl; most girls in New York would kill for a job in Violet – that, I knew. I received emails every day of girls who knew of Violet and were desperate to work here. They all send photos and videos of themselves, all scantily dressed and quite a few were pleasantly pornographic. However, to work in Violet, I needed the girls to be special whilst retaining some element of class – not just anyone who was up for a fuck. Although I did contact some of the girls who possessed that quality – but obviously for other reasons.

When I found the other girls, my instinct told me to pick them as if it was some sort of profound feeling. It was as if I just knew that the girls were right for the job, so I instantly picked them. I knew my gut instinct was right because the girls I had previously picked were absolutely fucking perfect. But now, I would have to go through the whole process again and I only had a week to do so. Carlisle Masen's review of Violet could either make it – just that little bit more – or completely break and fucking destroy the whole goddamn thing.

As Rosalie walked stealthily out of my office door after her usual remarkable head-giving, she passed my colleague, Jasper. He was obviously about to knock but evidently didn't want to disturb me. Jasper helped me organise Violet's events, and helped me on administrative work. He was shy and less good looking than I was, so sometimes I helped him with the ladies in return for his good deeds to me. I smiled knowingly as I welcomed him into my office. "Come in, Jas," I called.

"I don't know how you do it. You're such a…a…_fox_, Mr. Cullen!" He laughed nervously and I laughed along with him. I was in a good mood after Rosalie's mouth service. I was pretty much a _god_ around here.

"I know, I know. So what do you want, Jasper? Have you finished what I had asked you?" I wondered, hoping that he had.

"Of course, Mr. Cullen. That is what I came here to tell you before…" he stuttered and I laughed at him. "Yes…anyway, Mr. Cullen, I just wanted to let you know that I have organised open auditions in the South Hall for girls so you can meet some of them in person, and have also arranged for a few adverts to go on late night TV for them."

"And the flyers?"

"Yep, I've got Emmett and James on them. They've been sticking up posters all day, Mr. Cullen."

"Excellent, Jasper." I leaned over my desk, picked up one of the joints I had got James to roll up for me in the morning and lit it naturally. I took a toke before speaking to Jasper again. The dope was always good after head. "The auditions will still be scheduled for tomorrow as planned, yes?"

"Yes," Jasper confirmed. "One o'clock, in the South Hall."

"Great," I answered him with my now-hazy eyes. I looked around my office, trying to think of something else to say to Jasper before I dismissed him. Then, something came to me.

"I think that's it for now, Jas. We're done for the night. I'll see you tomorrow." I smiled as I swivelled my chair around so that my back was facing him as if to signal for him to leave.

"Mr. Cullen, would you like me to lock up? It's pretty late, about 4 AM."

"Not yet, Jasper. Actually, do you know what? Could you see if Alice is still around and send her in here, please? I'm feeling a little stressed about the auditions tomorrow and you know how she _relieves_ me…"

I turned my chair around to face Jasper again, smirked and watched him as he awkwardly bowed his head. I knew that Jasper had always had a soft spot for Alice – I had laughed to myself as I noticed his puppy-dog eyes around her for the first time about a year ago. So to watch Jasper squirm when he knew that I was going to fuck her was particularly entertaining.

"Are…are you sure, Mr. Cullen?"

I chuckled.

"Of course, I'm sure, Jasper, why wouldn't I be? Now, run along and send Alice on the way, that's a good boy," I ushered.

"Okay, Mr. Cullen. Can you just remember one o'clock tomorrow at South Hall, please? Don't forget this time. We can't let Masen give us a bad review after all we – I mean, you – have worked for."

"I won't forget. Alice, please. See ya tomorrow, Jas."

I grinned to myself as Jasper left the room and I awaited a tiring yet mind-blowing sex session with the little pixie. I loved my life; I loved my club, and most of all I loved all the freedom that came with it. Nothing would change that, especially something fucking stupid like love, like it had done with Jake.

Little did I know that I was fucking tempting fate and that fate was close – in a small audition hall that was awaiting me the next day.

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**A/N: Reviews are not necessary, but always welcome. I look forward to hearing from you.**

**Edie x**


	2. Coffee Stained and Braless

**A/N: Now that you've had Assward, here is Sweetella. Sort of.**

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_**BPOV**_

"Mike!"

I slumped down on my couch in despair. I was going to be late, _again._

"Mike!"

My second attempt was more angry and volatile. But my third was the worst.

"For fuck's sake, you _moron_! Wake up and tell me if you can see a pair of tights that don't have any ladders in them before I fucking smother you with your pillow!"

I paused for his reply. It usually shocked him when I used my foul mouth to the extreme.

"I'm sorry, honey," I heard him weakly reply from the bedroom. "I'm still in bed and my head fucking hurts."

Fucking _useless_. I stormed into the bedroom, went back into the drawer that I had been rigorously searching through all morning, and put on the same tights that I had worn the day before. Yep, the ones with the tiny hole on the knee and were probably the possession of mine in the best condition in the whole of my stupid tiny little apartment. I had the same problem every morning. I was still as poor as ever.

Working for a little elementary school a couple of blocks away from me was my only source of income. Yeah, I lived with my fiancé, Mike, but for almost a year he had been unemployed, leaving my measly little salary from working in the special school to keep or apartment, our little cat, and ourselves alive.

Mike said we should get rid of our cat, Tyler, but I told him to fuck off. I loved my little black cat and right now, he seemed to be the only one that was keeping me smiling. So we kept the cat.

I pulled on a boring old white shirt that I had worn a couple of days ago and managed to keep as clean as possible, and then my usual knee-length black skirt. I finished off my casual yet lacklustre look with some plain silver studs that I put in my ears, and tied my long hair back with a plain brown ribbon – brown to match my hair and my eyes – and my boring shitty life.

I then grabbed my satchel from the living room and called back to my fiancé who was still wiped out from the night before. "Bye Mike!"

"Laters, Bella," he murmured back with the enthusiasm of a goldfish.

I was already late after forgetting to set the alarm, again. Our faulty clock kept going off at the wrong times and missing the right times, so getting up on time started to become a little game of chance for me. It was ridiculously frustrating. Miss Thoday was not going to be a happy bunny…_again. _

Mike and I had been out the night before and consequently he was hung-over and I was overly tired. I desperately needed a pickup as I had no time for breakfast and was late for work anyway; so on the way to the station I ran into Starbucks quickly.

Starbucks was an absolute luxury and I was thankful that I had the privilege of getting free coffee from there. My best friend Esme had once dated the guy that owned the place and so most of the Starbucks in New York knew who Esme was and that I was her best friend, allowing us to have free coffee wherever and whenever. I wondered when the time would come when my local branches would realise that he and Esme were no longer together and if my freebies would stop. But Esme had been single for about three months now, and I was still getting free coffee.

I picked up a Caramelatte and a chocolate twist as quickly as I could. School had already started by the time I had made it to the station and unfortunately, I had already received a warning about my lateness.

I groaned at the thought of having to go into that dreadful office of Miss Thoday and have another eerie talk with her. I hated that woman as much as the kids did; she was our own American Miss Trunchbull. I shivered as I remembered the smell of her horrid mackerel breath and her thick Texan accent as she leaned over me the last time I was late.

"No more tardiness, Miss Swan! This is your final warning!"

I had leaned back on my seat in actual fear of what she was going to do to me. I had even vividly imagined her picking me up by my hair or throwing me into the "Chokey". Again, I was as terrified of her as the kids were.

I ran into the subway as fast as my little legs could carry me. I was only five foot and two inches, but sometimes I'd like to think I could be as speedy as a cheetah. I slid in between people, cascaded down the stairs, leaped through the tunnels and as I got to the right platform, I was suddenly hit in the stomach with a metaphorical baseball bat.

_All trains from this platform delayed for at least one hour down to annual maintenance. We apologize for any inconveniences. _

I was doomed. I could feel the hot mackerel breath on me already. I had lost my job for sure and suddenly, my knees felt weak. I sank into one of the platform's seats along with another few people shaking their heads and cursing at this revelation. I felt sorry for myself as I began to come to terms with my clumsy and foolish actions and the ramifications of them.

What was I going to do? Mike had said he was looking for a job, but it had been almost a year since he had lost his restaurant and it seemed as if he was comfortably adapting to staying in bed all day and watching television. But he wouldn't even be able to do that now – we wouldn't be able to keep our apartment at this rate, let alone our cable. Where would we even live?

I wasn't going to live with Mom and Dad back in Forks, Washington. They weren't even talking to me after I had told them I had gotten engaged to Mike. They thought he was bad for me and had no ambition, and that I should get rid of him as soon as I could.

I told them that they didn't know anything about love and that if they really loved each other and me, then they would see that Mike loved me and that we were going to be together forever. I was sixteen.

And now I was twenty-two, and probably unemployed as well as my lazy-ass fiancé who couldn't even give a crap that we were probably going to be living on the streets within a week. Okay, it wasn't just his fault, it was mine, too. I h ad always been a lazy and clumsy person, and that had obviously cost me my job. I was glad that Mom and Dad couldn't see me now, because maybe they were right.

I unhurriedly started to walk back out of the station, my head hanging low as I wondered why I was receiving no phone calls from the school asking me where I was. I figured – they were probably thinking of replacing me anyway and I had obviously given them the perfect chance. I looked at my phone and then realized that it had run out of battery. I couldn't call Mike and tell him that I wouldn't be at work today – not that he would care. He was probably still in bed, maybe throwing up, meaning that I would have to make yet another trip to the laundrette and again, how would I be able to afford it?

I stood still for a minute and debated whether to cry or not. I decided that I would wait until I got home.

I shamefully sipped at my now-cold Caramelatte and nibbled at my chocolate twist as I walked along the strangely quiet back streets of New York, back to my apartment, my baby cat and my indolent fiancé.

It was a nice summer's morning, so I decided to take a different route to go home, to enjoy New York while I was still just about living there. I didn't want to move back to Forks and see my mom, but I knew that it was almost inevitable if I didn't find another job within a week.

I walked down a street that I vaguely recognised. Mike and I had gone there once, maybe, to the old building of South Hall. I think it was the school's annual staff dance or something like that. Mike and I had been the only ones under the age of thirty, so we didn't really have a great time. More depressing memories were forced onto me as I stared down the street, looking for the building.

I noticed at the end of the street where the South Hall was placed, there was a large line of girls outside waiting to be let in. As I walked by, I tried to look at them, pretending not to stare as I wondered what they were doing outside looking more than a little excited. They all turned to me as I walked past them, eyeing me up and down and taking in my school teacher's attire and sneering. They were all dressed extremely meagrely and I couldn't help but feel a little…overdressed.

Most of them were wearing short skirts and little crop tops that left little to the imagination. Some were even wearing what appeared to be swimwear and undergarments which was odd – this wasn't California. They even seemed to be teaming up their scanty outfits with beastly skyscraper heels that intimidated my poor little kitten pumps. I felt quite threatened as I walked past the queue, all these girls staring at me as if I were trash.

_Strange,_ I thought to myself as I tried not to eye them back._ Since when did the South Hall become a strip-club? _I giggled to myself at my inside joke and then caught the eye of one of the girls waiting outside. Whoops.

"Sorry, do you think something's funny, bitch?" a particularly large girl jeered at me, with long blonde hair extensions and a fake orange tan. She was also wearing an unusual amount of thick make up piled onto her young face. She didn't look older than eighteen, yet her outfit was suggesting otherwise.

"No, no. I'm sorry, I was just passing," I stuttered. This was a back street of New York, and there was a ratio of at least one hundred girls that looked like prostitutes to one measly ex-school teacher: _me_. I didn't really want to reach the end of that conclusion.

The orange girl turned to her friend in the queue, equally as fake, and then muttered, "Jealous little bitch. Like _she _could ever work at Violet."

The word "work" ripped at me over and over, one thousand times. It hit me again that I was probably unemployed and how I was going to lose everything. Tears started stinging in my eyes involuntarily and suddenly, it seemed as if I couldn't wait to get home and cry. One tear trickled down my cheek irretrievably. I needed to go somewhere else, not here, just anywhere to escape reality. I turned on my heel as quickly as I could.

Abruptly as I turned, I bashed into someone who had just stormed out of the entrance from the South Hall. He was tall, lean, blond and very attractive. I smiled up at him as he caught me and stopped me falling over, dazed and he looked down at me in awe. I was a mess. My face was slightly tear-stained and as I looked down at my blouse and the remains of my Caramelatte were splashed all over my white blouse and stupidly, I wasn't even wearing a bra. I wanted to scream. There was no explaining how terrible I looked; it only reflected how I felt.

"You're the one," Blondie said to me as he stared into my eyes with a smile. I frowned at him as he turned to a big brawly man by the entrance. "Emmett, she's the one."

I began to fume, by accident.

"Excuse me, Robbie Williams, but have you seen what you've just done to me? I've had a really shit day, I've probably lost my job and look what you've done to my only clean shirt. How am I supposed to find a fucking new job wearing _this_?" I screamed at him, my anger and frustration finally catching up on me and coming out all at once. It was ridiculous.

"You've lost your job, you say?" Blondie looked at me up and down, and back to the guy that was called Emmett. They were both grinning. Then, I realised that my shirt, despite the brown mess, had gone see-through. Fucking perverts.

"Yes, as a matter of face, I think I have. No, I _definitely_ have. So if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to thank you for ruining my shirt and get somewhere where I can sulk and cry in peace without fucking bystanders, thanks," I boomed, signalling to the laughing sluts still queuing up, obviously entertained by my grade "A" performance in "embarrassment".

"Well, you're at the right place then, honey," Blondie whispered. I hated that I found his southern drawl kind of sexy.

"Um, sorry to burst your bubble, Mister," I mumbled. "But I'd like to leave now."

"Well, that would be stupid, Miss, because I've got the perfect job for you, darlin'," he smiled. It was a lovely smile – too good to be true.

"Is this some sort of joke? Because if it is, I'm really begging you not to play it on me. As I've said, I've had a really shit day and could do without the banter, guys…"

"No, that's why these girls are queuing up," Blondie explained. "They're auditioning for a job at the best club in all of New York, Violet."

_Violet_. I was sure I had heard that name somewhere – Mike must have been talking about it with his friends. But why were they holding an audition to work there? A club job with an _audition_? Only in New York.

"Are you offering me the job then?" I asked, a little incredulous.

"Well, if the boss likes you. I'm not the boss though, Edward Cullen is."

I heard a few excited mutterings from the girls in the queue after Blondie had said that name. I was sure I had heard of it, too – I just couldn't place where, exactly. Perhaps it was just déjà vu after coming back to the South Hall, so I decided to think no more of it.

"So what does the job entail?" I asked him, slightly eager now. Hey, I was desperate.

"Well there's not a lot of time to tell you everything, but the basics will be shit like floor work, table work and obviously the standard stuff and maybe at the end of the night just a little bit of general dancing. It's up to the boss though, like I say." He winked at Emmett.

"Ah, you mean cleaning," I stated.

Blondie laughed. "Yes, cleaning…" He looked at Emmett. I didn't know why. "Are you ready then, Miss?"

I thought for a moment. "Okay, but do you think it'll be alright you know, wearing this?" I motioned to my soaked cold top. I looked disgusting.

"I'm sure Edward won't mind," Blondie smiled. "Ready?"

I had nothing to lose. I mean, a cleaning job wouldn't be so bad. I didn't get much money from the school anyway, so it wouldn't make a lot of difference. Maybe we could keep the apartment but I could always send Tyler to Esme until I found something better. It was better than going back to Forks, anyway.

"Yep, I'm ready," I said, attempting a smile.

"Hey, why is she going in early?" the bitch from earlier shouted at Blondie.

"Don't worry," he replied. "Mr. Cullen will see you later."

I looked back at the girls while Blondie guided me in, his arm around my waist. Usually I wouldn't let a stranger touch me like this, but he was so darn good looking that I made an exception. I resisted the temptation to stick my tongue out at the girls and shout "_Haha!_" at them. Although thankfully, my slight bit of maturity and sanity that I had miraculously managed to retain that day stopped me as I walked into the familiar South Hall.

I wondered what this Edward Cullen might look like, maybe fat and bald. That's what most owners of the clubs Mike and I went to looked like. However, this club already seemed different. Again, who held auditions for a cleaner? I scoffed. What a weird club. Oh well, I needed the money so I persevered through my constant questioning.

Blondie guided me into the room which had a sign on the door of it saying "Auditions – Cum inside". Again, what sort of club _was_ this? If I was going to work for it, then I was going to have to make some adjustments on their spelling. Maybe being an ex-English teacher was going to come in handy, after all. Who couldn't spell "come"? I laughed a little with nerves, and then I entered the room, coffee spilt all down my chest and an eager yet tear-stained face.

I gazed at my surroundings. Sure enough, there was an actual panel of judges, Blondie being one of them. He was accompanied by two amazing looking women. One of them was small and slight, with short spiky black hair and a charming face that resembled a pixie. She smiled at me sweetly as if to welcome me. I smiled back, pretty nervously. They were all watching me.

The other woman was different, perhaps the polar opposite to the pixie. She was a lot bigger, with stunning long blonde hair down to her waist and a beautiful face, despite the harsh look on it. She obviously wasn't intending on smiling. She looked very tall and muscular, perhaps just under six feet, from where I was standing. Her face remained impassive as I acknowledged her.

I then looked around myself and realized the set-up of the audition room. To my left, a large metal pole was stood up rigid, attached to the roof for support. To my right, a chair was sitting. Confusion swept over me as I tried to comprehend what was happening here and what I was supposed to do.

Suddenly, before I could ask, a man walked in the room from a door on the opposite side from the one I had come from. He wasn't fat or bald, in fact, he had a full head of unruly hair and from what I could see, his body wasn't far from perfect. As soon as he lifted his head up, my heart seemed to stop. He was absolutely beautiful.

He stared at me too, but differently to how I was staring at him. It was as if I was wearing a big colourful hat, a huge red smile painted on my face and unusually large shoes. He must have thought I was crazy, standing like a fool, gaping at him. But he was watching me, too. We both just watched each other, fervent for what was going to happen next.

Then, he spoke. He seemed a bit uneasy, but his voice was almost musical. Maybe my unfortunate day had made me go a little bit crazy. Wait, of course it had. I was auditioning to be a cleaner in a club.

"I'm Edward…Edward Cullen." _And you're fucking gorgeous._ He turned to Blondie. "Jasper, she's _perfect_."

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**A/N: Again, you don't have to review but I would love it if you did. **

**And if anyone's got twitter, you can follow me under **edieswan.

**Edie x**


	3. Pole Scrubbing

**A/N: I hope you don't find this chapter too painful... **

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_**EPOV**_

"Oh, fuck it, Jasper. All these girls are just so average." I shifted through all of the audition sheets and sighed at how unproductive the day had been. It was fucking exasperating.

"But Mr. Cullen," Jasper replied, obviously as hassles as I was. "We've seen over 300 girls today. Are you sure none of them are you know, tickling your fancy?"

"No, Jasper. They're most definitely not. I mean, yeah, I'd probably fuck quite a few of them. Hell, I'd fuck anything – you know me. It's just these girls… they just don't seem to have _it._"

"Well, what is it, sir?"

"I don't know," I admitted with another sigh. "I just know it when I see them. That's what happened with the other girls."

Jasper ran a hand through his hair. "What do you want me to do about it, Mr. Cullen?"

"Oh, I don't know," I breathed. "I'm just so fucking fed up now. I'm tired and we only have six days until Carlisle Masen gets here and reviews the club. How can he give us a good review if we just have an empty pole in the middle of the stage? It's just going to be a fucking embarrassment."

I buried my head in my hands in despair.

"Well, should I just send a few more in, just in case? Perhaps ten, maybe? One of them might have it," Jasper suggested.

"Go on, then. For all I fucking care, you may as well just take the first person you see off the fucking street."

This was not going well, at all. I was fuming. I had been here all night, all morning, and now we had gone well and truly into the day. It was absolutely ridiculous. I had seen over three hundred girls and none of them were right for the job. See, this is what love did to things. It just fucked everything up. Just like it had fucked Jacob and Leah up, and consequently how it was going to fuck my club up.

My club, my rules… I should have just told Leah that she couldn't leave.

I turned to Rosalie and Alice and gave them a wily look – they always knew how to cheer me up a little. I was going to be stressed later on and they knew that if they didn't do anything soon to relieve me, then it was my bad mood that they would have to experience at the club later on that night.

Alice moved her hand over to my sudden tense and anticipating cock and stroked me reassuringly. It was lucky that Jasper wasn't there, or he would have been squirming. Although, the look on his face when Alice touched me was fucking priceless. Alice began to move her head down into my crotch and then started to undo my zipper with her teeth. Fucking _kinky. _

Suddenly, I heard an abrupt cough and turned to look at Rose.

"What the fuck?" I said to her, frowning.

"Edward, sweetie," she soothed. "The next audition will be coming in here in a minute. Don't you think that we should save that sort of thing for later?"

She winked at me and then bit her lip. Then, she looked down at my groin and back at me through her long eyelashes, kind of like she did when she went down on me. I couldn't deny that.

"Off, Alice," I demanded. "Rose is right. You can both help me with this later." I grinned to myself after I smiled at both of them.

Afterwards, I went to the nearby bathroom and leaned over the sink, attempting to bring some sort of thought into my head to keep my dick down before the next load of girls came in. I didn't want the girls to think that I was a complete pervert just yet.

I then heard footsteps coming into the audition room; Jasper's next prospect must have arrived. I exhaled noisily as I walked reluctantly out of the bathroom, ready to view another tedious slut who didn't know dancing from fucking humping.

When I walked into the room – that was when I saw her. I couldn't believe it. You know that profound feeling I had been talking about earlier when I saw the girls I wanted for Violet? That was the exact feeling I was experiencing as this girl walked in the room, only tenfold.

I was instantly drawn to her pert nipples that I could vividly see through her blouse. Coffee was spilt evidently all over the most wondrous place on her body – her tits. She was short, but not like Alice short. Instead, she was petite and round. Obviously her breasts were God's gift to men on Earth, but even her legs under her modest skirt and relatively reticent heels looked like they could work a pole. Plus, they were certainly doing things to _my_ pole.

And her face, it was almost, well…sweet. Her chocolate-brown doe eyes were staring at me meticulously, judging me as I judged her. Her luscious long brown hair cascaded down her slim yet sturdy shoulders and as she stared at me, she began to twiddle her hair with her small delicate hands. It was cute. For some unknown reason, I refused to move. I was fucking immobilized. I needed to speak.

"I'm Edward," I whispered and almost cringed when it sounded like I had a sore throat. What the fuck was wrong with me? She was a fucking princess. "Edward Cullen," I finished.

She gave me an appreciative nod and then turned to her surroundings. She looked a little bit uncomfortable, but I let her get on with it. I turned to Jasper, wanting to embrace him for this fucking brilliant find. "Jasper, she's perfect," I told him honestly.

The perfect girl grinned, satisfied with my comment. I needed to know more about her.

"So," I began. "Could I ask why would like to work here then, Miss?"

She bit her lip before speaking. "Well, honestly? I'm in desperate need of the money at the moment."

Honesty – I liked that. I _needed_ that

"Right, so have you ever been in this line of work before?"

"Um, well, sort of. During my high school years I did a bit after school and sometimes at the weekend," she answered tentatively.

"Really?" I asked_. Interesting._

"Well, I mean it wasn't as glamorous as all of this. We didn't need to do auditions or anything, but I was young and needed the money. So, I thought 'why the hell not?'" She giggled a little and I noticed she had a tiny snort in her laugh. She was cute when she was nervous. I knew enough now that I wanted to see her dance.

"Right, I think we're ready for the audition, then. Well, I'm ready." I smiled at her. I was_ so_ ready.

I walked back into my seat after forcing myself to move, sat down next to Alice and Rose and awaited a fan-fucking-tastic performance, ready for this wonder woman to blow my mind. Instead, she looked at me, still gaping like a deer caught in the headlights. What was she waiting for?

"You can start now," I said to her. She frowned at me slightly, still fingering her hair. I looked at Jasper and then signalled him to start the music. I then nodded at the girl and she pursed her lips in what looked like confusion. Maybe this "innocence" thing was all a part of her act.

The music began to play, which was my personal favourite "Fireman" by Lil Wayne. I sat back in my chair and smiled at the girl while she paused, looked at the floor, the pole and then the chair. She then looked back at me for instructions.

"Off you go then, love." I smiled at her again, attempting to spur her on with my notoriously irresistible grin which often got me what I wanted. And what I wanted right now was for this bitch to dance for me.

Suddenly, to my complete shock, she got down on her knees and started to bob up and down on the floor, sliding one of her hands along the ground to the beat of the music.

What the _fuck_?

It was strange; I'll give her that, but very intriguing. I had never seen this sort of dance before. I continued to watch her, taking special note of her abundant ass, dipping up and down, sending fascinating images running through my brain like livewire and then straight to my cock.

I stared at her intently, waiting for her to do something else other than this bizarre routine, but she kept acting as if she was scrubbing the floor.

"Can you do anything else?" I asked her, almost impatient.

"Alright, alright," she shouted. I was alarmed at her temper, but she looked hot when she was angry.

She then moved to the pole. _Finally,_ I thought. _Let's see the action._

Jasper changed the music to "Womanizer" by Britney Spears. I smiled whenever I heard that song; it was fucking written about me. I watched the girl turn to the pole, her ass now staring right at me. It was fucking appetizing.

Dismayed, I gazed at her as she continued doing the weird scrubbing motion on the pole. What the fuck did she think she was doing? It was beyond bizarre, now. I looked to my side as I watched Alice and Rosalie in fits of giggles and Jasper desperately trying to keep his laughter in. The poor girl looked hot and bothered as she noticed my confusion and irritation, and also the collective laughter that was building up in the room after watching her "routine".

She stopped with the pole and then just stood there, her hands hung loosely by her sides. Her brow was furrowing cutely as we stared at her in awe. "I don't get it," she stated, her frown lines appearing and her cheeks reddening. "What am I supposed to do?"

Alice was rolling in her chair with laugher. "Too fucking funny," she squealed and I couldn't help but laugh a little myself. The girl was getting more and more agitated by the second. I decided to act a little bit out of character and do a kind thing for her; to put her out of her misery.

"Rose," I started whilst trying to stifle a laugh. "Would you mind showing this poor girl how it's done, please?"

Rose stood up, still laughing, and stood next to the girl, towering over her and smirking as the girl looked up at her body in shock. As I had requested, Rosalie was wearing my particular favourite crop top and thong, looking fucking delectable and intimidating as she stood next to the blushing flower.

"Let me show you a thing or two, baby," she smiled at the flower. I decided that I was going to call her "Flowergirl" at the rate that she blushed. Flowergirl looked confused as she couldn't stop staring at the temple of temptation that was my Rosalie.

The music started again. This time, Jasper played the Pussycat Dolls' "Buttons" and Rosalie took to the pole with the regal presence that she usually possessed. My semi-erection suddenly became full again as I watched Rose grind and twist around the pole that I often imagined was my cock. Then, my mind cast back to Flowergirl. I liked that name – it suited her. She certainly held the beauty of a flower, but resembled the blush fucking profusely.

She stopped, looked around the room, looked at Alice, mine and Jasper's smirking faces and then back to the pole that Rosalie was working so well.

"Shit," she said, her face falling into a deeper crimson.

Jasper switched off the music, turned to the girl and gave her an impish grin. Rose hopped off the pole and stared at Flowergirl as if to say "That's how it's done, bitch."

"What is it, honey?" Alice asked, still giggling from before.

Flowergirl frowned even harder than she had done before the audition had started.

"This…" she said, indicating to her surroundings. "This is for a strip club, isn't it?" she asked, her voice shaking.

"Yes, of course," I smiled. "It's the auditions for Violet, the number one strip joint in all of America." I loved saying that, but shivered inside when I thought of Carlisle Masen completely ruining the club once he found out that we were missing another girl. I could only hope that the girl standing here wasn't being serious.

"Fuck!" she screamed, looked at me in the eye and then stormed out of the room as quickly as she could.

"Wait!" I called. I didn't want her to leave – she was perfect for the club and I didn't even know her name. "Come back, Flowergirl!"

I sighed when she didn't return. "Jasper, quick! What are you waiting for? Run after her!" I shouted at him.

He got to his feet as quickly as possible, but tripped over his chair as he did so. Alice tittered.

"Oh fuck it," I muttered under my breath, and decided to actually run myself.

I pushed through all of the girls that were still waiting impatiently in the queue as they had been doing all morning. They all looked so mediocre now that I had seen Flowergirl.

"Edward Cullen! There he is!" They screamed as I shoved them out of my way. I couldn't see where Flowergirl had gone off to and it was fucking worrying me. "Oh my God! It's really him!" The chants kept going.

I tried to smile. Most of the time it felt fucking great to be me, but I had never been a runner and I was sad that Flowergirl was getting away. I could just make out her bouncy brown hair in the crowd; but in the end, it wasn't that hard to spot her – she was the only one wearing "normal" clothes.

"Hey! Flowergirl!" I called after her, but she kept on storming forward.

Finally, after a few minutes of following her, I called her again and she stopped and turned to me. "What did you just call me?" She shook her head in confusion. "Look, can you just leave me alone, please. I-I… I was stupid. I thought this was a cleaner's job."

"Well, I guess I could put some cleaning elements in the job description for you, if you'd like," I replied, desperate.

Flowergirl laughed at me as if I was fucking stupid or something. I didn't like it. "I'm sorry, Mr. Cullen, but I've had a rather shit day so it would be better if you just left me alone now, okay? It seems like you're more wanted over there, anyway," she said, pointing to the hysterical girls dressed in bikinis that had begun to follow me after I had run after Flowergirl.

I didn't know what to say. I was out of breath and I couldn't think straight. "But…but… girl, you're perfect for my job!" I breathed. I hadn't run since eighth grade and I'm sure that chain smoking and smoking cannabis had probably affected my lungs in some sort of shape or form.

"What?" She seemed upset. "You're saying I'm perfect for your job as a pole dancer in a strip club? Well, that's nice of you. It's good to know that I'm the perfect whore."

I wanted to agree with her, but I knew that her sarcasm was evidently showing that she wasn't happy with what I was implying. I was losing her, fast.

"No, not at all," I stammered. I just didn't know how to put it. "Your face, your hair, your body…" I breathed in. "Your _breasts_."

"Ugh," she exhaled. "I'll see you later, creep." Then she turned on the heel of her foot and left again. I had no patience to run even further.

"Wait!" I called after her. "I don't even know your name, babe!"

She turned back to me. "And you're never going to, _babe._"

She flipped me the bird and then walked off in the opposite direction. She was no longer there and I had no idea who she was. She left me almost devastated. It was as if there was a gaping whole now forming in my body, just because I had let this girl go, because I, Edward Cullen, had just received his first ever rejection.

But I wasn't going to let Flowergirl go just like that – no. I would find out her real name, she would take centre pole and I would do what ever it took to make sure that she made Carlisle Masen fucking _weep._

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**A/N: Hehe. Poor Flowergirl. Please let me know your thoughts if you have some time. **

**Also, you can follow me on twitter under **edieswan**. **

**For the songs that have featured in this story, there is a playlist at www(dot)mixpod(dot)com(slash) playlist (slash) 57439792**

**Edie x**


	4. Cinderbella

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of Stephanie Meyer's ideas, however I do own my wacko-brain. I think this is slightly different from her Twilight universe, anyway. Just slightly.**

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_**BPOV**_

_Fucking jerk._

My day was just getting even shittier as it went on. I was still overwhelmed with embarrassment that I couldn't even feel the sidewalk, my knees felt _that_ shaky. I couldn't believe I had fallen for something so stupid. A strip club? Honestly. I almost laughed at my own stupidity; how I must have looked in that audition room thinking that I was auditioning for a cleaning job! I was fucking _scrubbing the floor _to the beat of a song!

I did laugh just a little bit at that.

I walked back through the streets of New York, despite my legs still in an almost-jelly-like state. My breasts were thankfully no longer as prominent through my white t-shirt as the coffee had finally dried. The sun was now beginning to shine and I guess I was sort of feeling a bit better about my day. At least it wasn't raining and at least I could go back to my lovely fiancé who would be waiting at home for me in our lovely little apartment.

The fiancé that would be throwing up all over my bed sheets and the apartment that would be gone within a week if I didn't get a job.

I shuddered.

I reached our block of apartments and almost slumped as I walked up the stairs to the door of my home. I couldn't wait to tell Mike about my morning – at least he might see the funny side of it all. He usually knew how to make me feel a little bit better, and that's why I loved him.

I knocked on the door, wondering whether he had gotten up yet. After about four attempts of knocking, Mike still wasn't opening the door. _He must still be hung-over_, I thought to myself.

"Mike?" I yelled, but there was no answer.

I sighed deeply as I brought my satchel over my shoulder and began to fumble around in the bag for my keys.

As if the day couldn't get any worse – it had seemed that I had forgotten them.

I had no clue what to do next. I was exhausted already and my mind was certainly not thinking straight. I couldn't just stay sitting outside in the hallway all day while Mike continued to sleep. Knowing what he was like after a night out – he could be in bed for days. Plus, I still needed to cry and I still had some remainder of dignity which told me not to do so sitting outside our apartment like a loser. I wasn't _that_ low…yet.

I decided to put my options in perspective, yet none of them seeming relatively rational. I had no money to occupy myself for the rest of the day, so leaving was out of the question. I didn't have a spare key, of course. Mike's drunken antics were to blame for that one – we'd had about five spare keys but he had lost them all. I hadn't had the time recently to replace them, so consequently we were now key-less.

So there I was, deciding whether I should just sit outside and wait for Mike to wake up or not. I walked down the stair and around the corner to compile my thoughts, when I noticed that the bathroom window was left wide open.

_Stupid Mike_, I thought. _Anyone could get in there!_

Then I had it: anyone. We were only situated on one floor above the ground, so surely I could climb through the window. I t was better than waiting for Mike all day, anyway. I couldn't even ring him or anyone as my cell phone had run out of battery. Also, there was a drainpipe going right past the bathroom window. If I could climb up there, then I could easily just slip inside. But could I take my climbing "skills" that far? There was only one way to find out.

I slipped off my stupid little kitten heels and began at the bottom of the drainpipe. I looked up to see where I was aiming to get to and then looked at my feet, figuring out where to place them. I tightened my grip onto the pipe and then laughed inside at myself when I thought of how my actions now were probably a lot more appropriate to the auditions that I had shamefully participated in earlier. God, I was a mess.

I pulled myself onto the pipe and gave myself a hypothetical pat on the back when I realised how well I was holding myself up. I then hoisted my body up even more and tentatively looked behind me to see how high I was.

It was a big mistake.

I began to feel horrifically queasy. I was scared of heights and just as I was starting to feel sick, I realised that maybe trying to climb up to my apartments window was perhaps not a very good idea. Suddenly, my grip started to feel a little looser, and my legs less muscular.

"Shit!"

I screamed as I braced myself for the fall. My hands let go of the pipe and my legs followed. I fell extremely ungracefully yet luckily into a bush that thankfully cushioned my fall. My legs were held wide open, my shirt still coffee stained but now slightly ripped by the twigs from the bush that I had fallen into.

I closed my eyes, not even feeling what had just happened. I felt numb. After the morning that I had already gone through, this felt like absolutely nothing. In fact, it was rather peaceful just lying there in the bush, listening to life as it just carried on all around without me. _Go ahead,_ I thought. _Just leave me alone!_

"Bella? Are you okay?"

I opened my eyes abruptly and then attempted to sit up as quickly as I could, but fell through the rest of the bush awkwardly. Despite scratching my legs through my now-demolished tights, I stood up and tried to smooth my clothes out before turning to meet the person who had just called my name.

"Mike?" I gazed at him, wondering why he was no longer in the apartment. Then I saw someone standing behind him. "Tanya?"

I had met Tanya once on a night out with Mike and I knew that she worked with him in the catering business once, but otherwise I didn't know her from the next girl in New York. It puzzled me a little that he was with him and didn't tell me of his plans. She was very beautiful. She had dark skin, a tall and muscular figure, strawberry blonde hair and the most fantastic emerald eyes.

"Yes, you remember Tanya," Mike nervously stammered. He looked a little mortified – although I couldn't really blame him. I looked a state. Even though Mike saw me every day and I didn't even wear makeup or try in anyway to look nice in front of him anymore, I looked even worse now and we had company. I felt sorry for him.

"Yeah, I do." I put my hand out for her to shake it. She touched me as if she were touching a stray dog with a stick. "How are you doing, Tanya?" I asked her and smiled sweetly, yet she still looked disgusted.

She pulled her hand away a little too quickly to appear subtle. "I'm fine, thank you. Isabella, is it?"

_Like Mike didn't tell you his fiance's name, bitch. _"Call me Bella," I smiled sickly. She sneered back.

Mike was quick to react. "Right, well, Tanya are going to, erm, go out for a coffee. She's, um, got some work prospects for me that we need to discuss."

I was elated. "Oh, that's brilliant, Mike! I am so happy for you, darling!" I leaned into embrace him and show him how happy I was, but he edged away from me and then smiled awkwardly.

"Thanks, Bella. Well, we'd better be off," he said sheepishly. "I'm guessing you, er, need these?" he said and then chucked me his keys. "Or do you just like to hang around in bushes?" He guffawed at his own joke and Tanya obediently followed him, looking me up and down, obviously disgusted by my escapade. Mike then turned around, ready to leave with Tanya.

"But wait!" I called after him. "I wanted to tell you about my morning." However, Mike and Tanya were probably out of earshot. I could still hear their titters, however. I sighed, but I didn't feel too fazed by their little mock at me. Mike loved me and I was so glad that he was looking for a job since I had narrowly escaped a potential last resort.

I walked back upstairs and opened the door, feeling especially pleased to be home. I felt gladder that we would have a chance of keeping the apartment since Mike had some new prospects, and when Tyler came over to me and purred at my feet, I felt almost content. Despite my horrific morning, life wasn't really that bad.

I tried to see the funny side of the morning before I cried about it, and I laughed at my stained tee before stripping off and heading to the bathroom. I then stepped into the shower with a forced smile on my face. I washed myself well and decided to take extra care this time: shaving everywhere, washing my hair with my favourite shampoo and conditioner. As I was apparently indulging in some "me" time after what had transpired earlier in the day, I decided to give something else a try.

There was one thing that had been on my mind for something like a year now. It was an embarrassing problem and I even wrote to a problem section in a magazine to ask for help. However of course, knowing my luck, the answer to my question was never published. Then here I was, still without a solution. I was losing my libido. Okay, no, scrap that, not my libido. I did want sex and I tried to have it as often as I could, but it was starting to become a chore for me because ultimately, well, I couldn't orgasm. I loved being physically close to Mike because we shared so much love and devotion, but the physical side was never quite fulfilled. At least not for me. Not for a long time.

I had researched it on the internet before Mike had spilt beer all over our laptop, and the only responses that I had found were that I was either a cold bitch or that my relationship had gone stale. From my knowledge, I had gathered that people had found me quite warm. They were always really friendly to me, but I didn't have many friends. However, I put that all down to spending most of my time with Mike or being at the school. I did have one friend though, Esme. But she and Mike had never seen eye to eye and accordingly, my visits to see her were kept at a minimum. I didn't mind though, I loved Mike with all of my heart.

So as I stood in the shower, I tried to take in my surroundings to make it more sensual. I ignored the mould growing in the corners of the bathroom, the yellow tinge of the plastic doors to our shower, the sick-stained toilet next to the lime-scaled sink, and instead I focused on myself. I watched intently as the water cascaded down my breasts, I gazed at my fingers slowly working their way down my stomach and then I closed my eyes, ready to concentrate on my senses and feelings as I pleasurably touched myself.

"Mmm," I groaned as that wonderful feeling began to build up inside of me, as if someone was tightening all of the muscles inside, begging for a release. There was something definitely beginning to impend and it felt fucking fantastic. Oh God, that was good. I mentally high-fived myself. However, as doing so, I started to feel the imminent release slowly start to fade.

"_No!_" I subconscious screamed. "Come back!"

Immediately once the arousal had sort of subsided, I felt like an idiot as I realised that I was talking to a non-existent orgasm. Brilliant – I was orgasm-less _and_ crazy. However, I wasn't giving up just yet. I had another plan.

I walked naked and dripping into the bedroom and quickly dug out something that I had been saving for along time: my seriously sexy underwear. I giggled with naughtiness every time I saw them in my underwear draw. Okay, so they weren't like the Violet girls' kind of thing, but they were far from my usual grey boy shorts and white t-shirt bra. I then peered into my wardrobe and found the most daring heels that I owned. Again, they looked shameful compared with that blonde beauty's at Violet, but I couldn't even cope in walking properly in my kitten heels, let alone shoes like those sky-scrapers. Perfect, for me, I thought, as I slipped on the shoes and then walked into the living room to search for some appropriate music. Suddenly, tunes like "Womanizer" and "Buttons" no longer seemed a comfortable choice.

I flicked through some of Mike's CDs, but in the end just put on the CD that was already in the player. I turned the cover over to find that it was the one Mike had once made me for my birthday when he was going through his lap dancing phase. What was this doing in here? I hadn't seen it in two years. He had begged me to do a lap dance for him, but I was just far too clumsy and embarrassed; in fact, it was even thwarting just thinking about me attempting to do it. However, when it was just Tyler and I at home, I actually kind of enjoyed dancing and sometimes, even in front of a mirror. Every so often, I actually thought that maybe, I actually looked kind of sexy.

I happily recognised the first tune as Pink's "Oh My God" and _oh my God _– it was too perfect for what I was about to do. I knew the purpose behind it was about lesbians, but it was a hot song. Maybe my day was getting better. After all, it couldn't really get that much worse.

I began by moving my hips to the beat, slowly from side to side, but then occasionally gyrating in a circular motion. I then began to move my arms to my hair, ruffling it up sexily. It was still a little damp from the shower, but I took a mental note to dry my hair next time. After all, practice makes perfect.

As I got more into the song, my knees started to bend slightly in compliance with my hips. "Mmm," I moaned as I began to feel the pulse of the song through my bloodstream. I was heating up. My dancing became a lot more sensual and erotic as I began to feel myself. Firstly, my hands transcended across my breasts, and then they continued further down south, my hips still swaying soulfully to the music. I smiled at how ready I was for my orgasm to finally return.

Suddenly, my sensual trance was interrupted by a throaty cough behind me. It sounded like Mike, but a little deeper.

"Fucking hell!" I yelled as I instantly covered myself up with my hands, refusing to turn around.

"Well, Miss Swan," the voice growled. It was seriously sexy. What was Mike up to? "I see you're ready for me."

"Look, Mike, please stop fucking around! I told you these were for your birthday so go away so I can put something else on!" I still remained with my back turned to him, laughing a little that he had caught me in such a position, yet annoyed that he had interrupted my forthcoming orgasm. "And what happened to Ms. Newton, anyway? Tanya isn't still here, is she?"

"Who's Mike?" the voice sounded, but without the growl this time and just with added irritation. I froze. It wasn't Mike.

_I was going to die._

"Who goes there?" I asked, my voice trembling. It sounded like a scared baby mouse. I was just waiting for a blow to my head or a knife in my back.

The voice laughed. The laugh wasn't scary at all; in fact it was almost enticing. I roughly recognised it. "You dropped your keys outside of the South Hall earlier on today, and your name was on one of the key rings so I found out where you lived to return them to you. You know, that's fucking dangerous, Miss Swan. Anyway, I thought I would surprise you, _Cinderella_."

The recognition hit me at full force. I definitely recognised that voice anywhere. There was no mistaking the musical tones and endearing seductive manner of this voice. Please don't let it be…

"Hello, Flowergirl. It's me, _Edward Cullen_."

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**A/N: Naughty Edward.**

**Twitter people can follow me under **edieswan

**And all of the reviews have been great so far, so thank you. But more are always welcome :)**

**Edie x**


	5. Oh Mike God!

**A/N: Here is the next chapter, bitch. I'm hoping to get one more up before I go to Bulgaria on Monday, but we'll see. I might need some encouragement. Enjoy this one in the mean time!**

**Oh and PS. I have to give a warning that there is explicit drug use in this chapter. Just so you know.**

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_EPOV_

It was really strange how excited I was that Jasper had managed to find Bella Swan's address for me. Bella Swan – the name suited her so much. Bella happened to be the Italian word for "beautiful", the name of my favourite Italian restaurant and now, Bella happened to be the name of the girl that I was so desperately seeking for my club.

I had walked through many roads and avenues before finding the Twilight Apartments. I hadn't been this area of the Upper East Side for a while since living in New York. Sure, there were some little seedy clubs on the outskirts of East Harlem, but to me, there were just trashy apartment blocks just like the one that this Bella Swan happened to live in. It was a little bit tragic that she came from this place, but I would make sure that she could make a lot of money.

It was incredibly unlike me – running around like this. I usually made Jasper do these sorts of tasks for me and sort out these sorts of problems and prospects. However, this time I wanted to be the one to fucking beg her to join my club. And when she accepted, I wanted to be the one to watch her as she dropped her knees and begged to take me in her mouth.

My cock was throbbing just thinking about the delectable girl on her knees.

I knocked on the door of the first apartment and thankfully, I could hear footsteps coming to the door immediately. Bella must be expecting me, I thought as my dick began to twitch with excitement. The door immediately opened, and then I closed my eyes and reached out to grab Bella's waist and bring her closer to me. Romance is the key, Cullen, I told myself as I pulled her in. Although, as I felt her waist it seemed lower and larger than I had initially thought. For some reason, I imagined her to be a little more…solid.

I drew away from her with apprehension and then slowly opened my eyes.

"Shit," I gasped as I gazed onto the true person I had been holding so close to my, erm, _raging hard-on?_

"I've been waiting for you," the old woman said, looking at me with her doting beady eyes. She reached to touch me again and I froze. What the fuck? _Could have checked the apartment number, you cock, _I told myself, smiling awkwardly at the lady who must have been well past eighty-five.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," I said in my most sickly sweet chocolate covered voice. "I think I have come to the wrong apartment. You're not Bella Swan."

"No, dear," she said, shaking her head. "I prayed for you last night - my own angel. Although you smell like smoke!"

I pulled the lapel from my suit and sniffed it instinctively. I couldn't smell anything.

"I'm sorry," I said again, trying to gently lift her fingers from my chest. "I'm not your angel," I assured.

"Are you his messenger?" the woman asked, hope adorning her wrinkled features.

Fucking hell, I did not have time for this. I fucking hated old people.

"Yes," I answered briskly. "He told me he would be here in three years," I muttered. I was blunt but hey, I ran on a tight schedule and this lady was cramping my style.

"Three years?" She looked up at me and then looked down. She seemed confused. "But my doctors only told me that I had four months."

Shit.

"That's what I said," I sang, dazzling her with my smirk.

"You really are an angel," she whispered before removing her hand off from the beginning of my tie and then closing the door until there was a slight gap left in it. "Thank you," she said and then, she was gone. About fucking time.

I stood in the hallway rigid in the same spot for about a minute before I heard the old lady shout something which sounded an awful lot like "Darn God! He's done it again!" _Batty_, I thought. However, I had a really peculiar feeling inside of my stomach which I wasn't quite familiarized with. Was this what they called…embarrassed? Disappointed? _Both?_

All I knew was that I had to find Bella as quick as possible and get rid of this feeling fast – or before the old lady caught up with her "angel."

I walked up the next flight of stairs hoping that Bella's apartment would be the next one. I couldn't wait to see her face as the man of her dreams returned to her after our little escapade at the audtions. I knew that – despite her lack of kind words – she was gagging for me inside. Who wasn't? Even that batty old lady called me her fucking angel.

I knocked the next door several times before calling her. "Bella?" I hollered, and then several times more. However, she wasn't answering. I then decided to press my ear to the door to see if maybe she was just carrying on the "hard to get" game by pretending not to be in. I smirked as I managed to pick up the tune that she was playing inside: Pink's "Oh My God". It was on the Violet playlist; Bella must have known. She was probably waiting inside foe me at this very moment, purposefully dropping her key outside the South Hall and then preparing a show for me back at her place. She was even kinkier than I had previously thought. In fact, she was deviously perfect.

I pushed gently on the door and then realised that it wasn't locked – this was all on fucking purpose! I stealthily twisted the doorknob, noticing the music getting louder as I pushed the door open with my hand. This must have been all a part of the goddess' plan. I fucking loved the plan.

I walked into the restricted living room and stopped in my tracks almost instantly, even before I could take the time to look around the place she was residing in. There she was, the fruitful cock-tease herself. What a fucking queen!

Her body was even sexier than I had imagined. She was unlike a lot of girls I had met, and believe you me, I had been with a lot of girls. But yeah, she was different. She was pale, but not like a vampire or completely ivory like an elephant's tusk. She was petite, but by no means a dwarf and definitely not skinny. She was delectably curvy, but in an almost modest way that didn't make her look obscene nor understated. I was right. Fuck, I was always right. She _was_ perfect.

The way she moved her hips was fucking teasing. I couldn't help but to gape at her as she danced, obviously feeling the movement of the beat from the music like a true dancer – she wouldn't need much training. I watched her as her hands transcended across her body at a sensual pace and wait – was she moaning? Oh God, this was too fucking good. If she didn't let me join in or otherwise I didn't know how my cock was going to survive. I coughed to let her know that her man in waiting was finally here for her.

"Fucking hell!" she screamed unexpectedly, her hands immediately sprawling across her body, covering her sexy underwear. She didn't turn to look at me.

"Well, Miss Swan," I growled, putting on my ultimate sex voice, "I see you were ready for me."

"Look, Mike, please stop fucking around! I told you these were for your birthday so go away so I can put something else on!"!" She never turned to me and she still covered herself. "And what happened to Mrs. Newton, anyway? Tanya isn't still here, is she?"

What the fuck? Who the fuck? Who the fucking hell was Mike? The name sounded slithery, dick-ish and suddenly, I immediately didn't like this "Mike", whoever he was. And Mrs. Newton? I found that weird stomach feeling again and remembered the old lady downstairs. _That must be her,_ I thought. _Mrs Newton._ The name Tanya also seemed to ring a bell, but why the fuck would I know? I decided to ask Bella the most basic question.

"Who is Mike?" I asked, my voice a little angrier than I had intended. But still, if I was going to take Bella, then I needed a long clean hard fuck with nothing in the grey area.

She went silent for a second, and then suddenly she seemed as if she was shaking. "Who goes there?" she said in a timid voice.

Aha, a part of the game, Miss Swan. It was probably all a part of this act she had going on. All I could do was play a long with her, the little minx.

"You dropped your keys outside of the South Hall earlier on today, and your name was on one of the key rings so I found out where you lived to return them to you. You know, that's fucking dangerous, Miss Swan. Anyway, I thought I would surprise you, _Cinderella."_

I laughed inside at my reference to Cinderella and hoped that Bella would pick up on it. However, she still remained silent. Maybe this was supposed to be some sort of scenario she had planned out beforehand. It was weird, I'll give her that, but man, I loved sex games.

"Hello, Flowergirl. It's me, Edward Cullen."

I was so tempted to use Prince Charming, but I'm sure Bella would want to be calling that name later when she was properly introduced to my _real_ Prince Charming.

She turned around rapidly and I was so ready for her. But awkwardly, she didn't give me the response that I had hoped for.

"What the _fuck_ are you doing in my apartment Edward Cullen?" she shouted. She was hot when she used my surname, "Don't you know that it's a crime - breaking and entering? Jesus, what the fuck are you doing here?" _Fuck,_ she was angry - but I liked it.

"Well, I figured you liked bad boys, babe."

"_Babe?_ Stop fucking calling me _babe_! I am not a fucking _PIG__!_ Now, get the fuck out of here, before I call the cops!"

Was this part of the sex game still? Because I really didn't understand it.

"But ba- I mean, _Bella_."

"_Bella?_" she fumed. "How the fuck do you know my name?"

"They were on your keys, love." I gave her my dazzling smile. She seemed mesmerized fot a little while, but then she shook her head, fiercely.

"Just get the fuck out, Cullen."

I guess the game was over.

"Bu - "

"Look, I'm not working for your fucking club, okay? It was a mistake that I ever walked into that audition room – a genuine mistake. And if you ever tell anyone that you saw me in these" – she indicated to her heavenly underwear – "then I swear that I will slit your throat, okay?" She looked ferocious and I fucking loved it.

I smiled at her again, but this time almost laughing – the girl was talking shit. Why the fuck wouldn't she work for me? It was the most sought after job for women in the whole of New York. She should have been on her knees fucking begging me to let her have the position – or many other positions I could have her in…

_Ungh,_ I thought as the image of Bella on her knees, different position, and general sex thoughts that habitually invaded my brain – especially in that fuck-me lingerie – gave me another noticeable hard-on. Bella gazed down and began to notice the tent that I was starting to painfully pitch. She picked up a broken curtain pole that was next to her on the floor and then raised it up to me, the end nearly poking me in the face. This queen was a fucking crazy woman!

"You see this?" she said, waving the pole dangerously close to my face, and then she moved it in the direction of my crotch. I flinched. "I will hit you with it if you don't get out of my apartment in three seconds."

She looked a little too determined and I have to admit, I was little scared, but I was Edward fucking Cullen, _everyone_ loved me and wanted to fuck me.

"But baby..."

"One..."

"But Bella, _please_..." Was I begging _her_?

"Two..."

She stepped towards me, the curtain pole raised. She was a fucking nut-job.

"Fucking hell!" I said, raising my hands in surrender. I went over to the door and walked out of it, slamming it violently as I did so. I was rattling with anger – she fucking embarrassed me, that's what she did! There I was, fucking strolling into her apartment as a part of her apparent game plan, and then she just forced me out of her place. This couldn't be happening; I was Edward fucking Cullen – people begged me to stay in there houses, to fuck them whenever I was in sight of them and now, I was facing a second rejection. She was the only one to ever reject me straight out – but she was also the one I wanted so badly.

"Fucking hell!" I walked out the door and slammed it violently. I was rattling with anger. There I was, walking into her apartment as a part of her apparent game plan, and she just forced me out of her place. This couldn't be happening; I was Edward fucking Cullen, people begged me to stay in their house, people begged me to fuck them whenever I was in sight of them, and now, I was facing a second rejection. She was the only one ever to reject me, but now, the only one I wanted so badly.

I had to call Jasper. There was only one cure for some shit like this: a night out on the time with some good coke, some old whiskey and a fuck-hot nice full of big titties, tight pussies and raw sex.

**_~o~_**

**_10 hours later…_**

"I fucking love you man," Emmett whispered into my ear as we knocked back large amounts of whisky. The music was beating to the rhythm of my incessant heart beat, La Push was positively pumping and we were fucking high.

"Yeah, shit," Jasper breathed after a toke, his eyes looking fucking bloodshot. "This was a fucking good idea, Mr. Cullen." Jasper was creaming under coke as he looked into my eyes. I fucking loved Jasper on drugs.

I breathed in one last toke after taking the spliff from Jasper, feeling all the sweet sensations rack my brain pleasantly and then, I exhaled after I felt dizzy.

"Fuck me, I'm out," I stated, yet still feeling slightly unsatisfied.

I handed the spliff back to Jasper and he immediately took another drag. He smiled at me afterwards, the fucking dog. Suddenly, I became pensive.

"Jasper," I asked him enquiringly, "What else do I need to get me over that bitch Bella Swan?"

He laughed and placed a friendly hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off yet he still smiled. "Nothing, sir. The girls are rehearsing for the Masen night and everything is going to plan. We'll put Rose on centre pole."

"Excellent idea, Jasper, but we will still have an empty pole. Who's going to do that?" I asked him, hoping Jasper would have a plan or Alice would take the "blame" later.

"I was thinking that maybe we could bring over that wonderful Jane from London. She's extremely notorious for her beauty," Jasper sighed, the fucking hopeless romantic. He was right though – I knew of Jane and she was a fucking princess. However, Bella was my fucking _queen._

"We can't fucking do that! Carlisle Masen is reviewing our club in New York. He won't want to see a dancer that he sees all the time! We need to show our own girls, yet stupid fucking Bella Swan had to ruin this. She's the biggest bitch-whore I know."

"Mr. Cullen, you adore her," Jasper crooned.

He started to make kissy-kissy noises at me and James and Emmett laughed forcefully in my face. And so the banter was about to begin.

"I'm Edward fucking Cullen. I don't adore _anyone,_" I shouted angrily back at him. But the rest of the guys kept the jokes coming.

"Except Bella Swan. Fuck me, Edward. You're _whipped_," Emmett said and then he laughed at me, slamming me on the back with his huge jock hands.

"I'm not fucking _whipped_ you motherfuckers. She's just a fuck-feast. That's it. Period. C'est tout."

"Talking _French_ are we? _Ooooh__,_ Bella's got you going romantic. _Language of love._ _Oooh _Bella, what you gonna say next Eddie? _Je t'aime_?"

James burst out laughing at his own joke, along with Emmett and a nervously high and giggling Jasper. Yet, they were fucking me off. Big time.

"Fuck you all. If there's one thing I know for sure, I don't and will never fall in love. _Especially _with a bitch named Bella Swan." I moved the table up, chucking the remaining coke piles and the whisky jug all over them. It was an expensive tantrum, but I could afford it. I

"_So whipped_," Emmett muttered as I walked off.

Fuck him, though. I was off to get some real pussy. I didn't need those little bitches or that other one Bella Swan. All I needed right now was some tight ass action or some shit. Hell, tonight I was up for anything.

"Hey Edward," a smarmy little voice whispered. _Finally, a real chick that evidently wanted to fuck me, just by listening to her tone of voice._

I turned around, vaguely recognised the face. I must have fucked her before.

"Hey..." I couldn't remember her name. Even if I did know it, I was far too out of it to remember or even care.

"Tanya," she corrected me.

"Ah, yes," I lied. "How could I forget?"

She placed her long manicured fingers along the panes of my chest – just like Mrs. Newton had done earlier on in the day and suddenly I was a little turned off. She was fuck-me hot, just like I wanted and she was probably pretty easy and up for it, too – just what I was looking for. Yet, I still wasn't interested anymore – the comparison to the old lady was fucking stupid.

Although that would have usually stopped me – so this was fucking weird. I was high, drunk and aroused which was usually a don't-stop-me-I'm-fucking-you-tonight mood but I still remained flaccid. Fucking weird.

"Nah, not tonight darling," I told her. "_Au revoir_." I began to move away from the ginger bitch.

"Sorry?" she said to me, grabbing my hand harshly so that I could feel her disgustingly long plastic fingernails into me. "You like French? I can be _Francaise_ for you, _mon cher_."

She grinned at me and then moved her hand to my crotch and giving it a light squeeze. Still, nothing. I so wasn't hard for her in the slightest. I needed to get away.

"_Mais,_ Edward…"

"Fucking leave off me, Tyler," I yelled, swatting her hand away from my dick as if a fly had landed there.

She looked mortified. "Fuck you, you ass!" she screamed, horrified. Then, she picked up the nearest glass left on the side near a mirror. She smiled maliciously and then threw the contents in my face. "And it's Tanya!"

"And this is water, you silly little bitch," I stated, not even looking at her in the eyes. My mind was completely switched in the other direction to this slut.

Suddenly, I heard something. "Tanya! There you are," a voice sounded from the crowd. "I've been looking for you all night, baby!" A guy I reckoned I had seen quite a few times at Violet and through the lower New York club scenes that allowed people to openly do drugs in the booths came to Tyler's defence. "What's going on?" he asked, looking at my water soaked face and then back at Tyler.

"This guy is perving on me, Mike!" she screamed at him, whilst pointing at me.

_Mike._ I hated that name. I hated it as soon as...as soon as..._she_ said it. I had to get out.

"I'm sorry, please excuse me," I said walking past them.

"Aren't you going to do anything to protect your girlfriend, Mike?" Tyler yelled at poor Mike, who was just standing there, not knowing what the fuck to do. His girlfriend was a bitch and he knew it. Although I bet she gave good head, though.

However, before the dear boy Michael could decide, I had already left to have a smoke in the alley behind the club. I knew that the club allowed smoking inside of the booths which was completely illegal, but I needed to get out of that place because my mind was fucking me over.

I couldn't shake her. I literally couldn't shake Bella Swan. What was she doing to me? She was a cow and I should have stayed well clear of girls like her. However, the fact that she was on my mind all night, the fact that a random guy named Mike instantly reminded me of her, the fact that I couldn't even get a stiffy for a hot girl speaking French to me, or any girl at all in that club for that matter, that maybe, just maybe, something strange was happening to me. I just didn't know what.

However, there were about three things I was absolutely positive.

First, Bella was fucking hot.

Second, there was a part of her - and I didn't know how dominant that part might be - that hated me.

And third, I was going to irrevocably and unconditionally fuck her.

* * *

**A/N: Hehehe.**

**Twitter lovers: **edieswan** is the username.**

**Reviews would be amazing, but again not entirely vital. Maybe. But I do love you more when you review! (:**


	6. Dancing with the Devil

**A/N: Back from Bulgaria! I'm obsessed with "We No Speak Americano" and "Alors, On Danse" and am suffering a lot from about 8 days worth of hang overs, yet I still bring you this chapter! And it's real long. Enjoy!**

* * *

**BPOV**

I hadn't told Mike about Edward and I wasn't planning on it. I knew that if he found out, he would most probably pass the blame onto me. He'd done it before.

When we had lived in Forks, Washington, Mike was at work in the local hiking shop his parent's owned one day, and I was enjoying some time off from my teaching assistant job in the local prep school. Our boiler broke which would mean that our house – in the middle of a very cold winter – would freeze over if it didn't get sorted out immediately. So, like any normal person, I called in a plumber to get things fixed. Of course, Mike came home and practically had a proper fit. Apparently, I was cheating on him and the plumber was just one of my "many prospects". Now, whenever someone even mentioned the word "plumber", Mike would flinch and look at me with hawk eyes and scowl. We hadn't called a plumber since.

Anyway, naturally, I was completely pissed at Edward – horrifically venomous, in fact. However most of all, I was completely and utterly mortified. There I was, on the brink of an _orgasm,_ touching myself and wearing underwear that definitely shouldn't be seen by anyone else except for my fiancé. And worst of all, I was attempting to dance – which probably looked completely indescribable by itself – while Edward watched me. And the way that he had called me "babe" – it creeped me out for sure. I had a name for that creepy Cullen. I called him "Scissorhands" just like that film Mike had made me watch once. Yeah, I could be funny, too. It was better than that flower name Edward had called _me, _anyway.

The morning after the Edward-breaking-into-my-apartment-while-I-danced incident, I decided that I would ignore the horrendous day that had just occurred and that I was starting a new page in my book of life. The first thing I was going to do on this new page was to forget everything that had happened and hope for no more run-ins with my infamous Scissorhands.

Mike hadn't come home last night as he was out with the boys. He often passed out at one of their places and didn't come back to the apartment until the afternoon the next day. I didn't mind too much though – at least he could throw up in one of their beds, and not mine. I had often tried to talk to Mike about his probably excessive alcohol consumption but he had told me that since he didn't have a job anymore, drinking with the guys was his only source of happiness. I had accepted that people needed something that kept them on a high in life, but I couldn't help but feel disappointed as _my_ only outlet was _him._

Miss Thoday rang me in the morning and told me that I had completely blown my last chance of working at the school. In fact, she didn't even fail to mention the fact that I wouldn't be getting any good references for any other school work and that if I ever wanted to work as a teacher again, I would have literally kill myself and be reincarnated. I told her I didn't give a fuck about her religious views or of her views about me and slammed the phone down. I was too exasperated to try and be nice. I was used to being a stupid sickly sweet Bella but after everything, caring about some fat old head teacher just seemed like a chore.

But back to the new page, I decided to start with finding a new job. I had spent three hours since six o'clock in the morning perfecting my resume and finding as many places with job vacancies in Manhattan. I put my laptop in my satchel and got ready to print my resumes off at the local library immediately. I double locked the front door to my apartment as I had suddenly become quite aware of security since the whole break-in issue. As I did so, I bumped into a very dour looking Mike.

"Hey?" I said to him.

"Alright?" he said to me, his voice coming out rather croaky.

"Yeah, thanks. Where did you stay last night? Eric's?" I asked him, placing my hand on his arm. However, he didn't look in a fit state for much talking. If truth be told, he looked pretty shit.

"Er, yeah," he said and then shrugged my hand from his shoulder.

"Where did you go, then?" I asked him and then I paused and smiled to myself. "Violet?"

He looked at me and squinted. "Violet? What? No, Bella. How the fuck do you know about Violet?"

I gulped. "No reason."

Mike looked like he was about to say something, but then he gave up. "Look, I'm going to bed. I'm wasted."

I giggled. "I figured. I'm just dropping some stuff off somewhere, I'll tell you about it later. See you soon, sweetie." I leaned up to him and kissed him lightly on the cheek and then walked past him.

"Yeah, see ya, Bella."

"Oh, and Mike?"

He turned around and looked at me, perhaps a bit irritated. I knew he just wanted to get into bed but I wanted to let him know.

"Yeah, Bells?"

"I love you."

He turned around again and walked to the door. "You, too," he murmured.

I sighed after the door closed. He was obviously tired and I was just happy to turn over a new leaf and find a new job. It was also comforting to know that Mike was working on that new project with Tanya, too. Maybe things might start to look up, after all.

The first place I dropped my résumé off at was a knitting shop along the road that Mike and I lived on. I often went there when I needed to fix one of Mike's shirts or if my clothes weren't exactly holding together like they used to.

I rarely went shopping as I didn't really have the money – all of it went to our home and on Mike's nights out. However, I knew how to sew and knit and Renee, my mom, had given me a machine for my twenty-second birthday which I kept at home and regularly used. I walked into the shop, smiling and ready for action, but they informed me that they had just taken on someone knew and didn't need anyone else, but thanked me for my enthusiasm.

Next, I tried the second hand CD store. It was old and run down, and to be completely honest I had little knowledge of music so my hopes were not exactly high, however the guy at the desk said he would adore it if I worked there and I could start whenever I wanted. He also called me sugar-luscious and never looked me in the eye. He made creepy Cullen look like a philanthropist. In the end, I had to refuse.

The last place I tried was thankfully a lucky one. The café scene in New York was thriving and after Esme's encounters with the Starbucks boss, I knew that I was in high favour at my local, especially as my coffees and cakes were still coming free. I thought back to the last time I was in Starbucks to see if I could remember any signs for job vacancies, yet suddenly the only thing I could think about was how, on that day, Edward Cullen watched me in that audition, scrubbing the fucking floor! He and his whores just laughed at me – although he was the one to come back the next day.

So why was I the one who kept on thinking about him?

It was odd. Very odd, indeed. It was almost as if every single on of my train of thoughts came back to him. Granted, it was plainly obvious how attractive he was and even though I was shit scared and pissed at him coming into my apartment, I still wasn't _that_ annoyed. It wasn't as if I was dazzled by him or anything, I still thought he was fucking creep, but for some strange reason, I was intrigued.

"Chocolate twist and caramel latte?"

I shook my head out of my strange "Edward" daze and realised that I had walked into Starbucks and was waiting at the counter in my own world. The woman serving had already settled a caramel latte on the counter before me. I took it gratefully.

"Oh, sorry," I mumbled. "My name's Bella Swan."

The woman smiled at me. "Yes, Esme Platt's friend, right?"

I returned the smile. "Yes, that's me. I know this is going to sound really weird but I was wondering if you had any job vacancies going?" I shuffled on my feet. "I'm kind of desperate."

The woman laughed. Hey, I needed to be honest." Full time?"

"I guess."

"Brilliant. One of our staff left yesterday morning. When would you like to start?"

I was suddenly grinning up to my ears. I couldn't believe it! "Don't you want to see my résumé first?"

"It's a coffee shop, honey, not a law firm. Do you think you could start tomorrow?"

So, my luck was changing after all. "Yes…of course, yes!"

"Tomorrow at nine-thirty, then. I'll pick up a shirt for you – an extra small, right? Oh, and I'm Kate, by the way."

"Thank you so much, Kate. You don't know how much I appreciate this."

"Sure, any time. See you tomorrow, Bella."

"Bye, Kate."

I made my way over to a table to drink my coffee and try and contain the elation and excitement that was bubbling up inside of me. I wanted to smile like a Cheshire cat and sigh with elation at how happy I was in getting a job. Mike also had that new project with Tanya, so it seemed that my life wasn't turning out so badly, after all. I took my phone out of my satchel to text Mike about the news since he didn't know yet about my lost job, but maybe later on tonight if he took it well, we could celebrate.

_Got a new job Starbucks – will explain all 2nite. Let's celebrate. I love U. B xxx_

Just as I clicked "send message", I picked my latte up with my other hand and stood up ready to leave and get home as soon as I could. Just as I did so, someone seemed to be standing in my way, knocking the remainder of my hot latte all over my shirt. I screamed as the hot water poured down my chest and cowered as I felt every pair of eyes in Starbucks look at me.

"Not again!" I wailed, shaking the coffee off from me. I looked up to see who I had bumped into this time. Unfortunately, I saw a face that I was hoping would never appear in my life again, despite how much I kept thinking about it.

"You," I whispered.

"Do you always have coffee spilt down your shirt?" he laughed.

"Edward," I seethed. I was still so pissed. "Look…at…what…you've…done!"

"I'm sorry, Miss Swan. I saw you in here and I was going to come over, but it looks like you were coming over to see me at the same time."

I looked at him, incredulous. "Er, not exactly that, Mr. Cullen."

He laughed at me and the weirdest thing happened. I felt…_infected_. Like I wanted to smile and laugh with him. His laugh was…contagious. Yet I still found it maddening that even though I was completely _en colere_, I was still finding him kind of attractive.

"Anyway," he continued. "I wanted to apologise for the way that I acted yesterday. It was a little callous of me and I don't know, I just couldn't help myself. You looked…ravishing." He flashed me a smile and I almost forgot to breathe. I hated myself for being won over so easily.

"Do you forgive me?" he asked, sitting down opposite where I was standing, still smiling. For once, I didn't know what to say.

"You spilt coffee down me. You…you broke into my apartment…while I was…"

He grabbed my hand and I fought the impulsive urge to fling it away from him as I became terrified of the weird electric pulse that went through me when we touched.

"Think no more of it," he said. "Let's pretend like it never happened."

"You can't just pretend you didn't break into my home, Edward. I don't even know you. I could have called the police," I sighed.

"But you didn't."

"No."

Edward had a point. Why didn't I call the cops? He was pestering me so much and the more I thought about it, the more I realised that if he was anyone else, I probably would have called the police or something. However, something strange and almost eerie was stopping me, and I didn't know what that was exactly. Something about this guy had me completely perplexed. I hated him, more than I had ever hated anyone, yet strangely after he had spilt coffee on me, I wasn't so disappointed when I saw that he was the one that did it.

"So what are you doing here on your own, then?" he asked me.

"Well actually, I just got a job here if you're so interested."

"A job? You know, if you really did need a job then…"

"Edward, I am not working for Purple."

"Violet."

"Yeah, well I'm still not going to work there, whatever the name."

He sighed, yet he still had that stupid infectious triumphant smile on his face. "Okay, Miss Swan, so we can't be colleagues. Can we be friends?"

I laughed. "Edward, how can I be your friend? We barely know each other."

Yet as soon as I had said that, I realised there was some odd moment of regret inside of me. So we didn't know each other, but we could? Even though I thought that he was a complete asshole and a fucking psycho, some part of me – although a very small part – felt sort of glad to be in his presence. The thing that I admired about him was his mystery. I was feeling an unusual amount of intrigue around him and it was outlandishly unique.

"I'd like to get to know you, Bella."

_Resist the smile!_ I told myself. _Come on, girl!_ "Edward, you broke into my home. I don't know if I could be a friend to someone that I didn't trust. You embarrassed me so badly on like, what, three occasions? Why do you think I would want to be friends with you? I can't stop cringing about it."

"I know," he said, looking pensive. "I haven't been able to stop thinking about you either. The thing with your apartment, well, it was a complete misunderstanding on my part. I saw that you had dropped your keys outside of the South Hall and I didn't know if I would ever see you again. But, you see, I had to see you again."

Something unfamiliar pulled at my stomach. Did I feel sick? "I was just…embarrassed."

"It was rather amusing," he objected. "But at least I got to see you again." He laughed at me again and I blushed strongly.

"Good for you," I spat, but I couldn't help but let out a little smile. I hoped that he didn't notice.

Luckily, he looked dazed. "I know," he replied.

My stomach was still pulling at me, and I was sure that it was an effect of Edward. I did feel like I was going to throw up, unfortunately, so suddenly, I stood up. "I'm sorry, I can't be your friend, Edward. It would be…weird. Good day."

I took my caramel latte from the table, well, what was left of it, thanked Kate and left. I swear that I almost growled at how idiotic that stupid man Edward was. I suddenly felt angry again at how under his spell I was – no wonder those girls at Violet were like his little lapdogs. He shouldn't have approached me like that, especially after I had almost attacked him with a curtain rod the day before – he was messing my mind up.

But he was pretty much a pervert. I knew the girls he had kept inside of the South Hall and God knows what he was doing with them. I knew that the stomach pull was not something good, and I especially didn't want to be a "scenario" of Mr. Cullens. Plus, I had a loving fiancé and I was certainly not the type to cheat.

Suddenly, my phone beeped which reminded me of how much I loved Mike and felt guilty about how attractive I found Edward's smile.

_Out all day 4 work thing. Might B back 5 but goin out with guyz l8r. Don't w8 up 4 me. M_

My heart still fluttered when I received texts from Mike, even though he no longer left kisses or "I love you" at the ends of his texts like I did. However, once you've known each other and have been dating for as long as we had, it wasn't really necessary. I knew Mike loved me – and his blunt ways and his honesty was something that I valued immensely. Still, I found it slightly odd that he made no comment on my job or show any kind of contentment. However I knew that he was happy for me, although sometimes he didn't show it.

I sighed and looked back at Starbucks to see if Edward was still sitting there, but to my surprise he was right behind me.

"What are you doing?" I yelled at him. I was shocked at how close he was standing to me. He smelled so _daring._ It was a husky man scent – spicy yet sweet.

"You left your satchel behind, ma'am," he said as he handed my bag to me almost like a butler. Stupidly, I found myself admiring his gentlemanly act. It was sort of…hot. Our hand touched again and I had to fight the urge to shiver…again. There was some sort of electric pulse running through him, for sure. I had to mentally slap myself to break away from the reverie he was putting me in. I hated this man more than I liked his scent.

"Right, thanks," I said, lamely taking it from him. He still held onto the bag as I took it, however. I gave it a tug but he didn't cease.

"Bella?"

I sighed. "Yes?"

"Could I ask you something?"

"Fine." I sighed and let go of the bag.

"Do you hate me?"

"Yes. Next question?"

"Are you seeing someone?"

"Maybe. Next?"

"You're not are you?"

"I'm not saying. That's none of your business. Are you done being so inquisitive?"

"Nice word, but no."

_Ass._ "I'm leaving then. Bye," I waved at him, and began to walk away.

"Bella, wait!"

"What is it now, Edward? Have I forgotten something else? Did I suddenly change my mind and want to work at Violet? Did I need more coffee spilt all over my – "

"I was going to ask if you just wanted to walk with me."

"Oh?" Hmm.

"Well, do you?"

I furrowed my brow. "Okay."

And we began walking together.

Why? I didn't know. I should have just walked away from him there and then, but I didn't. I didn't walk away. _What was I doing?_ My mind casted back to Mike and something inside of my was wondering why I didn't tell Edward about him and that I should have done, and yet, I didn't. And now I was going on a walk with Edward Cullen. A guy I hated, but was increasingly lusting after.

Shit.

We talked for a while and for a bit, it was almost a normal conversation. He was arrogant, of course, in fact, I almost got a little sick of how much he obviously loved himself – it was a sad little love story: Edward and his dick, it seemed. But, typically, I found it intriguing and rather refreshing. Yes, it did increase my hate for him as usually, I did hate cocky guys. Yet, it suited Edward. And really, who could blame him? He was an ass for sure, but even _I _had to admit that he was fucking gorgeous.

And he did ask about me. Sometimes. It was weird having someone asking about my hobbies as I never felt the need to discuss my interests with Mike anymore, what was the point? However, it felt good to vent to Edward. He listened to me or at least, he pretended to. Either way, the walk was, well, nice. I still hated his guts, though.

"Bella?" he said and suddenly stopped walking. _I loved the way he said my name._

"Yes?" I said and stopped walking, too.

"Will you dance with me?"

I laughed at him this time. "What?"

I looked around me, confused at Edward's request. I could hear some music coming out of a small restaurant that we had just walked past. It sounded like a little bit of light jazz – it wasn't the evening yet so it wasn't a live band and the restaurant wasn't very busy, but the music being emitted from it was loud enough to hear. It was a little too lovely for me to be experiencing with someone like Edward. I shivered.

Edward held his hand out to me, offering a slow dance. It was a peculiar thing to do, but delectably spontaneous. We were just standing in the middle of a street, on a mildly grim day, and we didn't even know each other. However, the most atypical thing was that it just seemed sort of…right: like it was something that we should have been doing. It was weird that it was so natural to take his hand in this way.

"Okay," I nervously whispered. For some reason, no thoughts of Mike crossed my mind. "But I…I can't dance."

"It's okay, I'll show you, and I'll lead the way." He smiled at me and I nearly fainted.

"I trust you," I whispered again. I almost shuddered in embarrassment at how cheesy I sounded. However, Edward's smile brought me back into an affable daydream that seemed to be joining us in this dance. I was ridiculously captivated.

"Now, you won't need to do much – I'll do most of the work. Just place your hands around my neck, first of all."

I did as he told me, and the voltage between us charged up again. My fingers almost sprang back in shock at how exhilarating it felt to be this close to him, to have this much body contact. Again, it was so wrong, but I was doing absolutely nothing to stop him. I was enjoying myself.

"Then what?" I asked, eagerly waiting for him to initiate the next move, perhaps more than I should have. No wait, _definitely_ more than I should have.

"Then…" Edward placed his hands on my waist gently, and I gulped in fear and anticipation. Never had I felt a man's touch so gentle yet secure. If there was something that I was feeling then, it was most certainly _safe_. But then again, _excited _seemed appropriate, too. My flesh underneath his hands burned in a pleasant way, and then I smiled back at him.

"Then we move?" I suggested.

"Then we move," he confirmed with a pleasing smile.

We swayed to the sweet music and I found dancing even easier and more natural than I had imagined. Edward guided my feet and never took his eyes off me. It was unnerving, but satisfying. It was as if I was dancing with the devil himself.

I looked up into his eyes, the fresh tunes of jazz complimenting the moment. He was, for a lack of a better word, beautiful.

Oh shit.

"Edward, I can't do this."

He stopped his movements and then looked at me with a slight grin. His mouth was so close to mine which just increased my uncertainty. "Why? We're just dancing."

"I know. I just can't." _Not to Mike._

"But we're friends now." He looked…_pained_? I shook my head.

"We're not friends."

"I thought you said…"

"I can't be friends with you." _Because actually I've just realised that I'm insanely attracted to you and er, hello? Have you ever seen "When Harry Met Sally"? Well, that kind of explains it there._

He looked sad. In fact, it was more similar to _distraught_. But I couldn't stay around him much longer whilst he was sending my senses so wild. It was dangerous. _He_ was dangerous.

We continued to walk. We were silent for a while, and weirdly after a few moments of broken contact, my initial fear of him began to subside. Then, pleasantly, Edward broke the silence.

"I know you said you wouldn't work for Violet, but I really think you would be so great."

I blushed a little, nearly flattered at his attempts to get me to work for his club, but still pissed at how he thought I was the type of girl to work as a pole dancer in a strip club. And he was still an ass.

"Thanks, but no thanks Edward. I'm working in Starbucks now, remember?"

"So you would if you didn't already have a job?"

"No."

"Right."

"Yep. Sorry."

"Okay, well Violet's along this road and I need to get into rehearsals. I'm a bit late as it is, talking to you, dancing with you…"

I giggled nervously. Guilt was flooding back to me. "Well, sorry to have been a distraction."

"I didn't mean it like that. I enjoyed it very much, Bella." He smiled at me. It was so _dazzling._

"Cool." I'd enjoyed it too, but I wasn't going to let him know. His head didn't need to get any bigger.

"So, see you again?"

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Edward."

"Come on Bella, could I at least get your number?

I hesitated, but he gave me that stupidly brilliant smile again. No one had asked for my number since high school. I felt…grateful. Yet, still so wrong. "Why don't you give me yours?"

"Will you get in touch?" he asked me.

"If you're lucky."

He put his number into my phone, and then took a picture of himself to put as the caller ID_. Vain,_ I thought. But I was sure it must have been a brilliant photo. I watched him intently as he gave my phone back to me. I took it out of his hand, but then dropped it. I was so clumsy and trembled in embarrassment as I felt my blush come rapidly to my cheeks. Why was I so embarrassing?

"I love your blush, Flowergirl."

"I still don't get that nickname you have for me. You called me that yesterday, didn't you?"

"Yeah, Flowergirl. You blush like a flower."

My blush became even redder. It was probably more of a crimson colour. Edward laughed.

"Get in touch."

He winked at me and then walked off. I sat down on a bench that overlooked the street that Edward had just jogged down. I watched him run, and when I thought that my admiring had gone too far, I shook my head and stopped. I looked at my watch and then realized how quickly the time had gone whilst walking with Edward. It was almost four o'clock and I needed to get home in time to prepare something to celebrate for later before Mike got home at five._ If_ Mike got home at five.

It would have taken at least an hour to walk back home to East Harlem from the Upper East Side if I went back the way Edward had taken me. Maybe if I took a shortcut through the streets behind the one that Edward walked to, I could possibly make it in forty-five minutes.

I walked down the back alley, appreciating the sun on my face, thinking of various thoughts including Mike, my new job that would be starting tomorrow and of course, the uncanny arrogant man that I only knew as…

"Oooh, Edward…"

"That's good Alice, mmm, please keep going, my girl. Yes that's it…"

_What?_ My mind seemed to be playing tricks on me. I was hearing Edward's voice and it sounded like he was groaning. But the name he was saying, it was unfamiliar.

"Alice, _aahh_," the Edward-like voice sounded.

_No fucking way!_ It _was_ Edward. It must have been. His voice was different to any other I had heard; his voice was pure…

"_Sex_! I want your sex, Edward!" the high-pitched voice screamed.

"Not now, Alice, just keep going baby, mmm, your tongue, your lips, oh God…"

The noises were louder now. There were grunts beginning to emerge from whatever place that was ineffectively containing them. Was I going to look?

Then I passed the window and it was plain to see. A small pixie-esque girl that I had recognized from the Violet auditions was knelt with her head between Edward's legs in what looked like a normal office. My mouth gaped open at the sight of this. I couldn't move; I was frozen stiff. How…how could he?

The girl who must have been called Alice withdrew her head seductively, still pleasuring Edward with her hands, but then unfortunately, she caught my eye. A roar erupted from Edward whilst Alice continued to stare at me.

"_Fuuuck_!"

I screamed as Alice did while Edward, he, he…_finished_ in a gauche position which Alice clearly wasn't ready for. I covered my face in embarrassment at witnessing such an intimate act, with the first guy that I had ever been slightly intrigued by whilst being with Mike. I couldn't help but feel a slight bit of…_jealousy_. However, the most overriding emotions at the moment were horror and discomfiture.

"My eye!" Alice screamed. She was still staring at me, as if she was blaming me for the whole awkward escapade. Liquid was dripping down her face as the poor girl quivered in pain. I even brought my hand to my own eye in pure loss of composure.

"What the fuck just happened, Alice? What was that noise? Who the fuck are you staring at?"

_Shit._ I tried to walk as quickly as I could from the window, but it was too late. Edward had already seen me.

"Flowergirl?"

"I'm sorry, Edward." I blinked harshly in embarrassment as I stared at Edward's ruffled post-coital sex face. I then looked at the poor girl still clutching her eye. "Alice, is it? I'm sorry. I was just walking by… and…um…."

Edward looked at the half naked girl on the floor and immediately became angry, and perhaps embarrassed.

"Alice! Get the fuck back to work!"

She instantaneously rose to her feet and got back to work, at the click of Edward's fingers. She was like a fucking pet dog. Anger was building up inside me. The fact that Edward would do that after asking for my number, asking if I was available, dancing with me like that, showing all of that interest in me, was all a fucking joke. He was an ass, like I kept telling myself, but I had just ignored it, naively. I had sensed it all along but let my fucking interests get the better of me. Curiosity killed the cat - more like fucked off the cat so much that she was fucking _seething_.

"Bella, I'm so sorry you just had to see that."

"Me, too, Edward. I'm sorry; I thought you were sort of different. I didn't realize that you were seeing someone, the way you were talking to me. But I know better now."

"Bella, I'm not with her, I promise."

_Jerk._ "Great. Well, it's even better that you treat women that way."

"You don't understand. She works for me," he pleaded.

"So that's why you wanted me to work for Violet? So I could be a fucking prostitute?"

"No, not at all. Well, obviously I wouldn't mind doing that with you, I mean that, oh I don't know, it's just…"

"I've heard enough, Edward. You're a fucking prick. I'm out," I yelled at him.

"Wait Bella, I don't care that you don't want to work here. I just wanted to get to know you."

"Well it looked like you were too busy getting to know someone else right there. And I suggest some anti-septic eye-drops for her…that should work okay."

He looked at me confused. It hadn't happened to me before, but it had happened to Mike and I had to help him once. He was so silly, but I loved him, and here I was being pissed at someone else for receiving a blowjob. I didn't even know Edward. I just knew he was a complete man-whore and I wasn't going to fall for his stupid smile or his fantastic body, or his sex-hair…

"Oh Bella, I'm so sorry."

"Okay."

He looked at me and frowned. "You forgive me? Just like that?"

"Sure."

"I don't get it."

"Well, I don't get you. Oh, is that the time? Looks like I must be getting back to my _fiancé_ who is waiting for me at home." I smiled at him, emphasizing the fiancé part. The smile wasn't dazzling like his, but it was certainly just as smug.

"_Fiancé_?"

"That's right. I'm getting married."

"I thought you said that you were single."

"I never said that."

"But…_fiancé_?"

Did he look _hurt_? This was brilliant. _Total payback, jerk. _I smiled at him, turned on my foot and began to walk away.

"Bye, dickhead," I muttered under my breath.

I came home and unfortunately I missed Mike coming back. However, then, I sort of felt like I needed to be alone. Edward-Ass-Cullen had cocked yet another day up. Tyler came over to me and nuzzled at my feet, just how I liked him to. It felt safe and affectionate, something that seemed to be slipping away from me every day. At least I had my cat, my apartment, my fiancé and the new job that I would be starting. I didn't need my weird fascination with "Jerkward" to fuck any of that up.

I switched on the television, hoping that re-runs of Gossip Girl would be on, but instead the adverts were in between. Tyler and I began to sing along to the theme tune of the new Harry Potter film advert and I was instantly feeling better.

Until the next advert.

_"I, Edward Cullen, invite you to the re-opening of my notorious club, Violet. If you're not there, you're missing out on a spectacular night, with special attendance by the one and only Carlisle Masen and special guests. 9.00 PM onwards. Tickets sold online or if you see me or one of my girls on the street, be sure to say 'hi'. I'll see you there."_

His voice gave me unfriendly shivers. They were so unwelcoming because of the hatred I held for him, but also at the unusual stimulating sensation his face gave me. This was the last time I was going to think about him.

I reached out my cell phone and looked at my recently added contacts. Of course, his name was saved as something as sleazy as 'Sexy Edward' and as I clicked on it, his face came up. It was so gratifying, yet so exasperating. I screamed at the image in frustration, clicked delete and decided on an early night. I needed to shake off this unfavourable human being before it became an obsession. To lust after and hate someone so much should have been a felony. I would never think of him again.

That was the first night I dreamed of Edward Cullen.

* * *

**A/N: PS. I'm tired which is why I have English (U.K) spelling. I will try and edit it soon so please don't nit-pick! And as always, please review if you can. And check out my one-shot "Raindrops". It's bitterweet, apparently. **

**Edie x**


	7. This Way Up

**A/N: I really wanted to update sooner but I am afraid that only a couple of weeks after I returned from Bulgaria, I went to Mallorca for my 18****th**** birthday. I didn't actually fly back to the UK after then, I went straight to Geneva – and had no internet except on my phone. But I did manage to sit by the lake and write a few chapters of this and some others!**

**So please enjoy for now. There should be more coming in due course!**

* * *

_**EPOV**_

I'd fucked everything up. Just like fucking usual.

After she had let me walk with her, dance with her; fuck - I had thought I was positively _in there_. And, you know, maybe I actually was, but then I had to leave to get back to rehearsal. I was stressed with the upcoming re-opening of Violet and the perfect way to relieve all of this stress was some serious office work, evidently. I mean, that was how I usually did it, so why should that night have been so different? Especially after the straining erection Bella had given me just by being around her. In my mind, it seemed that the only mildly rational thing to do was to get rid of said erection by one of my girls so that I could concentrate on my work.

But then she saw me...fuck, _Bella saw me!_ And if that wasn't bad enough, I had to explain to her that Alice wasn't exactly my girlfriend, which seemed to evoke an even more disgusted reaction from her. At least I was telling the truth – I mean, what was I supposed to say? If I told her that I was seeing Alice, she would have been even more put off me, wouldn't she? Fuck, I don't know. Thinking hard about all these shit emotions with girls wasn't exactly my forte.

It was strange how fucking guilty I felt. I was beginning to be a fucking pansy, for Christ's sake. I even felt disappointed – disappointed at how shocked she was, which indicated that perhaps she was starting to trust me. But I blew it, of course. This girl Bella was going to be the death of me: everything that happened around her went wrong. Maybe that's why I found her so fucking attractive – I just loved the danger.

However, that would have been distinctly impossible as I knew why I was attracted to her, even though it pained me to admit it.

Bella Swan was one of the most interesting people I had ever met. While walking with her, I actually felt as if I actually wanted to listen to her – rather than just staring at her tits – and finding each of her interests just as fascinating as the last. Everything about this girl was good, or just _right_. She always had to drink Fair Trade coffee and only used beauty products that weren't tested on animals. She had a cat herself, Tyler, I think he was called. Usually I would have found cat ladies and animal lovers a bit...weird, but with Bella everything just seemed to go hand in hand. She liked indie music, but more the original British bands rather than some of the phonies we had in this era, she liked pizza and most of all, she loved to read. She was my polar opposite – but I fucking loved it.

And don't even get me started on her looks. Fuck, it wasn't just the potential stripper's body that I loved so much – even though that _was_ particularly enticing.

I loved her smile; it was broad and even though not that frequent, it lit up one million lights when it appeared. She had plump and shapely lips; clearly they were blowjob lips which were evidently an advantage, but I liked those lips because they seemed like happy lips, even though she was angry a lot of the time. But I liked that, too – even though it was mostly with me. Also, her laugh was cute – sort of low and throaty, like a smoker's laugh, although I found it intriguing that she didn't smoke.

I really loved her body. Wait, had I already mentioned that?

I even loved the smell of her hair.

It was so strange that I found myself ensnared by the things that annoyed her – like people who took drugs for recreation – yet I was thrilled by the things in which she delighted. She also liked old fashioned films, particularly foreign ones which was one coincidence we shared – my favourite film as a boy was _Jean de Florettes_. I had never told a girl about that before, but Bella seemed impressed and informed me that the book was far better.

The strangest thing of the afternoon was that when I had to depart from this absorbing being, I had a horrible stomach feeling that was vaguely familiar. It was kind of...sad. Fucking sad. It was like I didn't want to leave her, but I was still excited that she was actually talking to me rather than threatening me with a curtain rod or telling me to piss off. I was also anxious to know what would happen next with her. It had been a very long time since a woman had intrigued me so much with words that weren't just sexual.

She was different. Most girls would have tried to get in my pants by now – not that I ever complained – but with Bella, it interested me more that she didn't seem to care or be intimidated by my presence and good looks, like most girls did. It was fucking unusual, but again I found it charming. I had only known Bella for what, two days? Yet, she was someone that I looked forward to seeing again all the time. What the fuck was happening to me?

However, none of that would matter now anyway, since she hated me. Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe because she had a fucking fiancé.

So why did she walk with me? And why did she dance? Why did she dance so fucking _close_? And why did we seem to have this weird..._spark_ thing between us? I guess ultimately it was the same reason as why I asked her to walk and dance with me even though I knew that I would be returning to Alice, Rosalie and the rest of the girls afterwards.

I shouldn't have got so anxious, though. She was merely walking with me as a source of company or even as a friend. It took a while to persuade her and she had walked out on me in Starbucks. Maybe she didn't like me at all? Although something inside me was severely hoping that maybe she _did_ like me, just a little bit. Well, what was I even thinking anyway? No girl could resist even a little bit of Edward fucking Cullen.

But the way that she looked at me as I turned around after Alice and I had done the deed – it was like a little deer, her big brown doe eyes staring at me with such naivety and..._hurt._ If she didn't care for me at all then she wouldn't have looked at me i that way. Maybe it was just shock or maybe she was a little bit...jealous.

All this thinking was fucking tiring me out, anyway. Bella thought I was disgusting but probably hot, and that was that. Surely I had done enough to eradicate any beginning signs of admiration, anyway.

I took a few short of whisky in my office to drown out my sorrows anyway, and then called Alice and Rosalie in.

"Mr. Cullen?" Rosalie said as she entered the room. They were still in their outfits from rehearsing all day and looked optimistically mouth-watering.

"Ah, just on time, girls. How is everything going down there?"

"The Moulin Rouge theme is going great, Mr. Cullen. We've all been working so hard," Rosalie smiled as she perched on the side of my desk and looking at me from underneath her long eyelashes.

"Really _hard_," Alice concurred and then licked her lips.

"Excellent," I stated. I fucking liked where this was going.

"Oh," Rose began before discreetly handing me a small bag of white powder that I gleefully recognised. "And Emmett dropped this by earlier while you were out." She smiled at me and I returned one. Coke and two hot girls? Forget like, I fucking _loved_ where this was going.

I poured the coke out onto the table in front of me and took my American Express card out from my pocket to sort the powder into neat little lines in front of me, Alice and Rose. They knelt down before the table as I signalled them "ladies first" and watched their asses as they bent over to snort.

I sat down on the black leather couch before them, resting my arms along the top of the cushions and keeping my legs wide open as if in a celebratory pose for forgetting Bella Swan and concentrating on these two beautiful ladies, a few grams of coke and of course the new opening of my club that would be happening very soon indeed. I casually looked down at Mini-Me to see how my little – well, it was pretty darn big, so I had often heard – buddy to see how he was coping with all the hotness. Strangely, it seemed as if he hadn't quite noticed yet. _Come on, big guy,_ I mentally told him. _You're about to get two for the price of one! _

My mind lit up instantly, yet I was still fucking..._dormant_ down there.

A line of coke would have surely done the trick to help this thing go. I snorted as soon as Alice and Rose were done. Wrong – I was still as flaccid as a broken plant cell. What the fuck was going on?

"Oh, Edward," Rose growled as she unapologetically noticed my problem. "What's wrong, honey? Do you need Alice and I to help you with that?"

About fucking time. "Yes, please – now."

They looked at each other with knowing glances, smirked, and then looked straight back at me. They had a plan, it seemed, and I was fucking ready, even though my dick seemed to be lagging behind just a fragment. It was fucking weird – that had never been an issue for me: getting a hard-on. Maybe I was more tired than I thought, or some shit like that.

Rose came over to me first, her blonde hair covering half her face but still revealing a coy smile that told me she was up to something. She walked elegantly, towering over me in her sky-scraper high heels that I loved so much, her legs looking fucking delectable in the red and black, ruffled corset that she was wearing. It pushed her large breasts up so much that they almost reached her neck. She looked like a fucking porn star and I hoped that it wouldn't be too long until she started acting just like one, too.

She perched next to me on the couch and I looked at her breasts, marvelling at this beauty that was completely under my control. Shit, she had such a fuckable body – I just wanted to ram her hard and fast right there and then. However then I looked over at Alice, who was staring at me just as slyly. She came over as Rose began to stroke my arm and shoulder, and over to my pectoral muscles. Alice, in a white and black ruffled corset looked just as tight and fuckable as Rose did as she came over and sat down on the other side, pushing me further back onto the couch and mimicking Rose's actions but to the other side of my body. Although her breasts were significantly smaller than Rose's, the corset made them look perky and round, and definitely touchable.

But I still wasn't hard.

Rose seemed to notice this again, however, and began whispering all these dirty things in my ear that she wanted to do to me. Fuck, it was beyond hot – and Alice's rubbing hand was getting closer to my cock. Surely something would happen now...

Nothing.

Rose moved from my ear and knelt down in front of me, between my legs. Alice moved to my neck and began sensually licking me from the tip of my ear and right down my neck. She was fucking heavenly with her tongue, even on the boring places like...not my dick. However, my mind was more concentrating on Rose looking at me seductively through her lashes, licking her lips sexily as she reached for my belt.

Still nothing.

She undid the buttons and zip on my pants and then pulled my boxers down with them. I looked down at my embarrassingly lifeless cock and was horrifically confused. Why wasn't my dick working? I seemed to be more than in the mood for a good fucking session or a blowjob, at the least, but it seemed that my cock and my brain had stopped cooperating. Could this have been the worst problem known to mankind? Fuck, yes. Edward fucking Cullen can't get hard? That's like saying I can't get women – both ludicrous statements, for sure.

So then it came down to the real crunch time – touching. Rose and Alice began tracing their fingers down my pelvis, both at the same time and on opposite sides. Hell, this was any man's dream. Both their fingers descended down my pubic bone, through my well-kept pubic hair and then ultimately, to their final destination. Except their seemed to be something terribly wrong, just like in those shit films, too.

Again, nothing.

They both began stroking again; Rose even gave the tip of my cock a lick and a kiss whilst kissing and caressing, but there was still nothing – but that didn't mean that they were going to give up. The girls loved to please me, and for me not to be pleased was just as much of a problem for them as it was for me. It gave them pleasure by giving me pleasure – that was how it had always worked. I just couldn't work this out, though.

I traced back to what had seemed like the last erection I had and it definitely wasn't too long ago. Sure, I had an impressive boner before Alice had sucked me off, but only because I had spent the afternoon with..._Bella_. And then I could definitely recall being implicitly turned on afterwards because I had been fucking bored at my desk with paperwork and then being riddled with thoughts of...how _Bella_ hated me. And how fucking hot _Bella_ looked when she was angry.

_Something._

"Yes," Rose hissed as her mouth hovered over me.

I closed my eyes. I refused to look at Rose or anything else just in case I lost it again. I thought of the source of my sudden erection and instantly I became even harder. It was definitely Bella.

Suddenly, the hair that fell over my stomach was thick luscious and brown, the hands that gripped my thighs were milky-white and soft and the lips that slid down onto me were plump and sweet.

"Fuck yes," I moaned as this woman sucked on me.

The muffled whimpers that came from her were barely distinguishable. They could have been made by any girl. Any girl named Bella Swan.

Suddenly, I was suffering the most painful erection that I had ever experienced. The woman hummed against me sending pleasurable vibrations pulsating throughout my cock. Her mouth was so hot and moist and so...easy to imagine it was Bella that I knew I wouldn't be able to hold out for any longer. I didn't care if I lasted as long as a twelve year old boy.

At approximately one minute later, I came sweetly into someone's mouth. I didn't just fly through the orgasm though – I fucking soared.

7 hours later

"Edward? Honey? Can you hear me?"

I opened my eyes slowly as I gazed up into the room to seek the identity of the girl who was calling my name. To my surprise, Alice, Rosalie and Jasper were all crowded around me as I lay on the couch in my office. What the pissing hell were they doing?

"What's going on?" I asked Rosalie, almost angered but mostly confused.

"You…passed out, Mr. Cullen," Jasper stated. His eyes were filled with concern, as per fucking usual.

"What?" I said, squinting and trying to get a better scope at the situation. "How long have I been gone, man?"

"Almost seven hours."

"Fuck."

"Don't worry, I've got the rehearsals sorted out for today, sir. The girls are doing great," Jasper smiled, and then looked adoringly at Alice. Fucking sap.

"I don't understand, though. What happened to me?"

Rosalie was the first to step in. "Edward, you were... in the moment. It was all going really well – well, in the end, and then, well...you passed out. I know you're used to the coke and stuff Edward, but maybe it had something to do with that? I don't know, I don't want to sound mothering and boring it's just that..."

"Are you fucking kidding me? Passed out over an orgasm?" I laughed almost manically. However, as I remembered the purpose of Rosalie's inference, I suddenly became angrier. "There is no way that I would ever stop the coke, baby! Before I…_passed ou_t, I had never felt so on top of the world. I don't want to ever have the notion in my head that I will never feel like that again, okay?"

"But your health, I'm not saying stop and obviously I can't tell you what to do, but your health, Edward…"

"…Is fine, Rose. The feeling yesterday or today…whenever…was obviously just so overpowering that I passed out, okay? It was purely psychological. Now get out of my office, all of you, and get back to work!"

They took a look at me as if to make sure that I wasn't suddenly going to pass out again before they left. After I had given them all a very stern look, they all scuttled out of my office and went back to what they must have been doing before. Rosalie took one look at me before she left; it was a disturbed look. Perhaps it was one that I should have been worried about – but I wasn't.

I rose up and walked to my desk, a terrible headache overpowering me as I strode. I sat down in my office chair and looked at my to do list that Jasper prepared for me every day. Today's objectives had all been ticked with a handy note at the bottom from Jasper saying "don't worry boss, all taken care of. Get well soon". I sighed at how nice everyone was being to me. It was an effort to be nice back and sometimes I felt like I really ought to pay them back sometimes.

I knew the way I acted was sometimes a bit outward or perhaps callous; but it was the way I should act. To get anywhere in the nightlife business, you need to be hard, flexible and certainly impenetrable: and that I was. And I was successful. Love and compassion would ruin me, just how it had ruined Jacob. So even though yeah, sometimes I did want to give Jasper a day off because I knew he over-worked, and I often wanted to let the girls know how much they mean to my business and sometimes, I guess, to me - I just couldn't do it. It paid to be rude and impassive...most of the time.

I looked at the one thing on the to-do list that hadn't been ticked and it caused my throat to seize and my stomach to tighten in a knot. That familiar feeling, because of that familiar girl: "Find Bella Swan".

Fucking hell, Jasper.

Fear gripped me as I grasped the fact that I was falling for this girl and there didn't seem to be anything that I could have done to stop it. My high feeling was completely coming back to me as I had an urge to do something completely crazy. Maybe I _would _act a little extraordinary and go through with an act of kindness: I was going to complete his list. I was on my way to Bella Swan's apartment, and I didn't care what time of the night it was.

* * *

**A/N: What will Edward fucking Cullen do this time to get Bella's attention? Something stupid, probably. **

**Please send me your thoughts in a form of a review! **

**And I will be updating a lot sooner from now on (hopefully). I only have one holiday left - but I do have my A-level results which may depress me for a while so who knows.**

**Twitter people: I'm under **_edieswan._

**Edie x**


	8. Edwardquakes

**Author's Note: **

Right, life is SO hectic at the moment. I'm moving to the other side of the UK this month so everything is a little mad but I will try and get all these chapters to you, toute-suite! Enjoy.

* * *

_**BPOV**_

Bang. Bang. Bang.

I opened my eyes immediately from the loud thumping noise at my door. I then blinked harshly to wake myself up properly.

"Mike?" I said, my voice throaty. "Is that you?"

"No," someone replied. Then I heard Mike move on the ground next to our bed. "I'm down here, Bell," he explained.

"Oh, I didn't hear you come in. Listen, someone is knocking on our door."

"Don't be silly, Bella – it's 4.30 am. Who would do that?"

Rationally, I could only think of two quick options as the bangs continued. One, it could have been the police saying that Mike – yet again – had done something stupid while he was drunk. That wouldn't have really been a rare occurrence around here. However, there was always another choice that had me a little perplexed, but I still considered it. The second option sort of gave me shivers. Maybe it was –

"Bella?" the voice called from behind the front door. It was musical; practically heavenly. _No_, I thought to myself. _Please don't do this, Edward_.

"It's for you, my dear," Mike slurred – he was obviously still drunk.

"Yes, I heard that, Mike. Let me just get it," I calmed him. "You go back to sleep. I'll get them to go away."

I sighed, swung my legs over to the side of my bed and pulled myself up reluctantly. Mike murmured something and within around four seconds, his snoring became prominent. I sighed again and walked out of my bedroom.

I was kinda fuming. How could Edward do something like this? To show up at my apartment after what had just happened was a little farfetched. To wake up myself and my fiancé in bed at four o'clock in the morning just after he acted with me the day before was also a little grating. Okay, it was really grating. I wanted to fucking scream; I was ready to let rip.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK–"

I opened the front door to my apartment but to find no one there. I looked around to see where the damn bastard had got to, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Edward?" I called, wondering if I had been fantasising about him so much that my imagination had suddenly become more ineptly vivid.

Suddenly, I heard something loudly crashing to the ground that sounded almost catastrophic. I looked behind me to find Edward falling out of the hallway cupboard with the mops and vacuum cleaners tumbling down with him.

I sighed heavily and dramatically as drunken Edward pulled himself up, slipping slightly in the dirty water that had fallen on top of him with the old cleaning shit. If I wasn't so pissed off with him, I probably would have burst out laughing – it was fucking hilarious. In fact, it was kind of hard not to let out a small smirk.

"For fuck's sake," I murmured.

"Bella?" Edward looked up at me, his eyes bloodshot and weary.

I suppressed a giggle, but then my expression became stern. "What are you doing here, Edward? It's four AM and you've woken me and my fiancé up. Do you want a repeat of last time you came around here?" I threatened.

"I don't like that you have a fiancé," Edward slurred. "It doesn't make me very happy." He looked down at his white t-shirt that had gone pleasantly see-through with the murky water, kind of like mine had done numerous times with coffee that had been spilt on me. However, with Edward I had to rub my eyes again to stop myself thinking about unacceptable images.

"Well, he's not very happy now, thanks to you. You woke him up," I said, trying to sound angrier.

"I'm sorry, Flowergirl," he murmured. He lay his head in his hand and looked up at me with his incredible piercing green eyes and through his rather long eyelashes. And there I was thinking long eyelashes could only look good on a girl.

I shook my head to escape the image. He was just simply too stunning; it was as if just looking at him was sending this weird sensation throughout my body. It felt like he was bringing out all the lust, anger and infatuation I had for him all at once – which was a pretty extreme emotion. Even my breathing began to increase, just by noticing how green his eyes were and the length of his eyelashes. I needed to get away.

"Goodnight, Edward," I whispered reluctantly and turned my back on him to go to bed.

"Wait," he stopped me.

"What is it now?" I asked him, attempting to be more vindictive. "Got anymore girls to tell me about? Own another strip club or a brothel? Or are you just going to ask me to become one of your Violet whores?"

I knew that I sounded harsh, but it was the only way I could get him to stay away from me. Even though shamefully, I didn't want to, and the fact that it didn't even seem to be working.

"No?" he slurred, questioning his words. He was beginning to sway a little. How drunk was he? He looked like he was about to fall over any second.

"What, then?" I said, impatiently.

"I came here just to see you, Flowergirl," he announced, giving me his crooked smile, which I hated to admit that still sort of dazzled me even though there was bound to be some vomit spewing from that same orifice sooner or later.

"Well, you've seen me, you're drunk, and I'm fucking tired so I think you had better leave, Edward." I crossed my arms, leant across the doorway and then yawned with emphasis.

Edward stared at me for what must have been at least a minute, eyeing my up and down and waiting for me to ask him to stay, it seemed like. I didn't. I just stared at him back, waiting for him to say something, or at least fall over or throw up. That would have been another load of sick I would have to clean up in the morning. Brilliant.

Suddenly, Edward broke the silence. And he didn't vomit.

"Hey," he whispered with a childlike smile on his face. Was he just so darn cute as he was sexy?

"What?" I also whispered. The way we were whispering was so… juvenile. It was adorable.

"Your pyjamas have flowers on them," he announced proudly.

I looked down and realized that I was wearing my old t-shirt nightie: the one which had a couple of daisy flowers embroidered on the front of it. I had sewn on the flower by myself and it was probably one of my favorites. I almost felt swollen with pride that Edward had noticed.

"It suits you, Flowergirl," Edward crooned, looking at the flower adoringly. He took one step closer to me and for some strange reason that was unknown to me, I didn't stop him.

"It's so beautiful," he whispered again, but didn't sound so juvenile this time. He had brought the "sexy" back. Also, he wasn't staring at the flower now, he was staring at me. And I couldn't fucking move.

"Edward," I gasped as his emerald eyes glistened. I looked away from him, scared of how his presence affected me, but I still wasn't moving. Edward was, though, and now there was only about ten centimetres between our faces. My breathing became heavy, almost to match his. Never had the smell of whisky and cigarette smoke smelled so sweet.

I could see his body through the wetness of his shirt, too. That wasn't exactly helping my state of mind retaining its sanity. I just stood there, taking him all in as he continued to stare at me. His green eyes implored me as I inhaled his scent and gazed at his rough-edged beauty. Neither of us said a word but it felt like no words were really necessary; we didn't know each other well enough for that.

I had to stop myself reaching out for him; to take him into my arms and comfort him. I wanted to put him into my bed and snuggle up next to him and tell him how sorry I was for overreacting earlier on in the day. I wanted to tell him that he had no obligation to me, but if he wanted, then he could.

I also wanted to stab him with the curtain pole like I had almost done before. I wanted to punch him in the face for how he treated the girls at his club. I wanted to whack him over the head with his bottle of whisky and tell him to stop being such a drunken sleazy bastard.

I then wanted to stroke all the bruises and cuts I would have given him myself, and then kiss them and his face, to hold him as he slept, and then wake up in the morning with him and tell him that everything could be okay now.

Fuck my sanity – it seemed too far gone, by then. But I was still getting married, and Edward was getting too close.

"Edward Cullen! What are you doing here?" Mike suddenly appeared at the door, slurring his words just as much as Edward had been.

"Mike," Edward sighed. I was almost thankful to Mike for ruining the moment before it went too far. I was scared at my lack of control.

"You two know each other?" I gasped, sort of worried that my fiancé knew someone like Edward Cullen. I was also worried that my fiancé knew Edward Cullen: the man I was insanely lusting after.

"Yeah, yeah, babe. We've been down the clubs and shit together," Mike explained, smiling adoringly at Edward like some fucking god. Maybe that was how I was staring at him – just like everyone else did.

"Yeah, that's right, I remember seeing you the other night," Edward grinned. Oh God, his grin!

I felt like I was intruding on a drunken friendship. Or that my imaginary friendship had been intruded on. Either way, I felt a little unwanted. "Well, I'm glad to see we're all friends, and I hate to break up the party, however, it's four AM and I've got work tomorrow, sorry," I explained to both of them.

"Yeah, whatever Bella, come in Edward! I think I've got some Jagermeister around somewhere. Let's drink!"

Oh, please. "No Mike, please, I need some sleep –"

"Excellent. Thanks Mike!" Edward widened his eyes and smiled like a goof at me as he walked past and into my own apartment as if to say, "Not going to stab me with a curtain pole this time, Flowergirl!"

My stomach flipped as I came into realization of how my fiancé and the man that I was sinfully lusting after, and having an ever growing obsession with, were drinking in my apartment at four in the morning and I had my first day of work in five hours. I stood in the door way and watched the two guys in awe as they both sat down taking swigs of the bottle of fatal liquid, whilst Edward never took his eyes off me.

As I watched them, almost as drunk as they were but with fatigue, and Edward watched me, I wondered why I liked looking at them. Maybe it was because I wanted to see Mike and Edward merge. I wanted to see my lust and obsession for Edward just fall into Mike. Or maybe I just liked looking because they were both so beautiful when they laughed. Or maybe I was just too tired or it was all a dream.

"Hey, Bella, why don't you join in?" Edward asked, still keeping his sharp eyes locked on me.

"I'm good, thanks, Edward," I smiled at him. I yawned unintentionally as I got lost in his eyes.

Mike looked at our exchanging smiles oddly, so I stopped smiling immediately, ran my hand through my hair and looked down. Edward chuckled lightly as he noticed my discomfort, and finally took his eyes off me.

"So, tell me again, how do you guys know each other?" Mike asked, pointing to me and Edward.

Edward laughed like a sort of…maniac. It was kind of scary considering he was just about to let Mike know how we met.

"Well it's a funny story actually, you see I was looking for a new girl for my club and –"

I immediately looked at him, pleading him not to tell Mike by putting my finger to my mouth urgently. I couldn't bear Mike knowing, even in his drunken state – I knew he would remember it at some point and use it in some argument about how much of a cheating whore I was. He'd probably add it to the plumber saga.

However, this time was bad. Even though I wasn't cheating, the way I had been acting with Edward was the closest to cheating I had ever come to, and I felt so guilty. I knew that if Mike had been feeling the way I had been feeling about Edward, about another girl, it would have been a huge knock to the knees. I didn't want to give Mike a justified argument.

"Edward met me in Starbucks when I applied for a job yesterday morning. Now if you don't mind, I have to get to bed, or I won't have the job there anymore," I explained, and then turned on my heel to walk back into the bedroom.

"Bella, wait," Edward demanded, softly speaking. For one split second, he kind of sounded sober – if I had ever experienced him sober.

"Yes?" I said, trying not to appear eager.

"Goodnight." He smiled. My legs turned to goo and I almost melted into the floor and out of existence. Fuck. Me.

I looked at Mike, and he waved me back into the bedroom, obviously raring to continue with his new drinking buddy. If I weren't so tired, I probably would have been pretty annoyed about Edward showing up to drink with Mike. But I wasn't. Probably also because of the fact that sometimes, although certainly not most of the time, Edward made pleasant company. I wasn't sure if his eyes had anything to do with it, or his perfect body, or his crazy sex hair…

I shook my irrational thoughts and climbed into bed. As I lay awake, I listened closely to the strangely silent atmosphere. Then, some beautifully slurred voices intruded the eerie silence.

"Mike?"

"Yeah, Edward?"

"Bella's really nice."

"Yeah...?"

"She deserves the, the whole, the whole world, you know."

"Yeah…okay, man. How much have you had to drink?"

"I don't think you realize how, just how…how lucky you are to have her," Edward slurred. My stomach flipped.

"Why, man? Is someone else interested?" Mike laughed, a little too loudly to be sincere.

"Something like that." Edward joined in the nervous laughter. I wanted to laugh myself.

"Is it you, Cullen?"

There was a silence for a minute.

"Who do you think I am?"

"What? You're… I don't understand…oh wait…I get it, man…"

"_Edward Fucking Cullen!_" they both said in chorus.

...

My first day of work was alright, but my mind was somewhat occupied. I had left in the morning to forget about all that I had heard and dreamed about, but all I could think of was Edward and Mike and the things Edward had said to Mike before he left.

Before I left for work, I found two guys both gone and a note left on the table from Edward. I was a little confused that the night had actually happened, but even more confused at what Edward had left me with. There were also some tickets enclosed with the note. My heart skipped a beat as I picked it up to read it, but for all the wrong reasons. I was keyed up. The note read:

_'Flowergirl,_

_I'm sorry for my behaviour last night. In fact, fuck it; I'm sorry for my behaviour for the past week. Mike's not gonna be back for a while, but in the mean time I want you to have these. You don't have to accept them or even come at all, and I'm not going to ask you to work there anymore, but I think there's something you need to see. _

_Edward'_

I had folded up the note and the two tickets and put them in my pocket. Obviously Edward had intended Mike to come as well, which was why he had enclosed two tickets, but I was cautious whether to use them or not. Strip clubs weren't really to my taste; but Edward Cullen was. I was intrigued; and after the things Edward had said about me and the way he said there was something that I needed to say, my intrigue only increased. I guess you could say I was almost infatuated. It was absurd.

I was also curious as to why Edward knew that Mike wasn't going to be back for a while. I knew he had a work thing with Tanya and they had to go to a few board meetings for their new business over the next two days. I had guessed Mike and Edward were better friends than I thought. But I still didn't know why Edward thought he had the need to tell me that Mike was leaving. As if I wouldn't know.

At the end of my shift, Kate said I had worked well, the customers seemed to like me and I was a quick learner. Since I was now a member of staff, I was also allowed two free drinks a day, so I invited Esme to join me for a coffee afterwards. Since Mike wasn't around according to Edward, and Esme and I hadn't caught up in a while, I seized the perfect opportunity for a girly chat about my current hang-ups. After all, I desperately needed someone to confide in. Tyler was a good listener, but he didn't give great advice.

"So, Bella, tell me. What is the deal now with you and this Edward guy, then?" Esme asked me, spooning three spoonfuls of sugar into her latte. "I heard he's pretty hot."

"Well, yeah," I laughed. "You could say that." You could definitely say that.

"So, what about Mike?"

"I don't know. Obviously I still love him and everything, I mean, we're getting married!" I looked down at my empty ring finger. Mike still hadn't gotten around to buying me that ring I wanted. I thought it was humble and romantic that there was no ring involved in our engagement – I wasn't materialistic – but I certainly wouldn't have minded something to sort of signify our future matrimony.

"_So?_ People fall out of love, Bella."

"But I haven't fallen out of love, Esme."

"Right, but you're thinking of fucking Edward Cullen?"

I screamed out loud at her statement, laughing in horror. "You dirty girl! I'm not going to screw another guy!"

"Doesn't mean you haven't thought about it."

Shamefully, I didn't retaliate to that statement. It was Esme – she knew my ins and my outs. I wasn't going to keep any secrets from her.

Esme quietened her voice a bit, noticing we had a few eavesdroppers. "Well, have you sorted out your…you know… that problem?"

I was hoping she wasn't going to ask that. She always asked that. "Well, no."

"So you want Edward to help you bring little Oscar back?"

"Oscar! Esme, my orgasm shouldn't have a name." I laughed immaturely at the personification of 'Oscar the orgasm'.

"You're right, because it's non-existent."

I sighed, stirred my Caramelatte and looked down at the stirring drink. "True."

"Bella, when was the last time you and Mike had sex?"

I tried to think back to it. All our sexual times seemed to blend together for me, and I couldn't even distinguish one time from another. Worst of all, I couldn't even remember if it was even this month. Everything had been so stressful with the house and plus, me getting a job and all sorts of things like that, there wasn't much time.

"I don't know, maybe this month, I'm not sure…"

"For fuck's sake, Bella. It's been over a month?"

I sighed again. "Probably."

"That's probably why you're fantasizing about this Edward. From what you've described, he sounds like someone I'd like to fuck. He's already got my approval, babe," Esme laughed, smiling widely at me.

"Whore," I smiled, and Esme shrugged as if she took the word as a compliment. I wished I had her confidence, but my conscience kept bringing me back to Mike.

Esme paused and looked at me. "How did you leave it then? After Edward came over last night?"

"He left me a note," I replied.

"Saying?" Esme asked.

"Well, he left me two tickets for his club. I don't know what to do with them to be honest, I don't know if I should take Mike somewhere like –"

A beatific yet demonic voice drew me out of my trail of speech. "So you got the tickets then?"

Oh, shit – not again.

Edward came over to mine and Esme's table and gave us his most fanciful crooked smile. I watched Esme's face as her mouth dropped in awe as she took in the beautiful sight of Edward. She then managed to keep from drooling, closed her mouth, looked at me and mouthed "Is that him?" I sighed and then nodded, disgracefully.

"I'm Esme Platt," she giggled as she moved her hand out for Edward to take it. Edward shook her hand amicably, but never took his eyes off of me. Why did he have to keep doing that? It didn't really help matters.

"Nice to meet you, Esme," Edward whispered, leaving his gaze on me. I couldn't bring myself to keep my eyes off him, either. It was absolutely mental. "So, Bella, are you going to take this beautiful woman with you, tomorrow night?"

Esme let out an awkward laugh. Clearly, Edward had this effect on anyone.

_Including me._

Inside I was melting. "Edward, Mike and I are not going."

Esme shot me a look horror and immediately stepped in. "Oh, Bella is going. _We're _going. We'll see you, _together_."

I looked at Esme in confusion. "Esme, that other ticket was for Mike, not you. And he's not going, and neither am I."

"I think you'll find that you are wrong, Bella." Edward smiled, melting me over and over again. "I've given Mike his ticket and he's definitely going. The other two tickets are for you and your friend, if she would like."

Esme jumped up in her seat, clapping like a little girl. "Oh yes, Edward, Bella and I are definitely going."

I sighed; Mike was already going. I didn't like the idea of my fiancé going to Violet, but perhaps I would have to go too, just to keep an eye on him. However, I knew he probably just liked the view, but he would always have eyes for me. And Esme really wanted to go, and maybe she could get together with Edward – I wouldn't feel so bad if it was her. At least I would know that he would be treated right. Maybe I should go – for them.

"Bella?" Edward asked, still smiling.

"Yes, fine – I will go. Whatever," I tried to say without smiling. I didn't like being won over, but here I was. There was nothing to lose. It would just be one night, I guess – for Esme and for Mike. And maybe for Edward, too.

"Excellent," Edward said, and then whispered, so silently that Esme was trying to lean forward to hear. "I can't wait to see you there. It's going to be a night to remember, Flowergirl."

He rubbed my hand tenderly as it was clasped tightly around my coffee mug, trying to form a shield at the expense of the sheer earthquake that Edward was creating, just by being around and talking to me. I was going to his club the next day and I had no idea what he had in store for me, just that it was going to be good.

Repentantly, I couldn't wait for the aftershock.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Anyone ever had anything similar to an "Edwardquake"? I'd like to think it feels pretty damn good - but terrifying.

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts. I tweet, too - under **edieswan.**

:)


	9. Fucking Grinning

_**EPOV**_

Well, I was grinning like a fucking idiot. It was almost daunting how I was standing outside Starbucks at five PM, looking at the setting sun over New York and just grinning. I was receiving odd looks from many people, plainly because I probably looked like a complete psychopath. They didn't understand though – Bella wasn't coming to _their_ club. She was coming to mine.

I may have been almost-passed-out-drunk the night before, but I was no fool when I saw Bella's "fiancé". As soon as I saw him, I knew how he was. I recognised him as the guy that stupid strawberry blonde Tyla was calling her boyfriend – and I was sure of it. It definitely wasn't just a coincidence they were both called Mike, either. It was as if I had found a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow and even though I wasn't Irish, I was going to drink like a fish tonight to celebrate.

I was also grinning at the fact that my brilliant plan seemed to have worked already; everything was running pretty fucking smoothly. As soon as I had partially sobered up after being at Bella's place, I instantly knew what I had to do. When she went to bed, it almost rendered me depressed. The term "out of sight, out of mind" was certainly not appealing to me and I needed to get Bella away from that asshole Mike and keep her for myself.

Mike and I left together as soon as Bella had gone to sleep. I asked him where he was going but he only winked at me as if to signify that I knew exactly where he was going. I took it as an indication for going to see that slut and it took literally all of my fucking strength not to floor the guy there and then. He was a fucking cocksucking dickhead and he knew it. So then, it was like a piece of dynamite had gone off in my brain – but in a good way. I had an idea.

"Hey Mike," I said to him. Time to bring out the Cullen charm – it didn't just work on the ladies.

"Yeah, Cullen?" he replied.

"So we're sort of friends, right?" I asked him. _As if he was my fucking friend._

"Er, yeah, I guess, why?" he asked me.

"Well, I've got some Violet tickets and I was wondering if you wanted them?" I said just casually.

"Yeah, yeah, the re-opening night should be sick. How much is it?"

"Oh no, you don't need to pay me. Friends, remember?" I smiled at him. Sometimes it had the same effect on Mike as it did to girls. I had to laugh; it was fucking _wretched__._

"Ah, that's great, man. I owe you." _Yeah, you owe me your girl..._

"Cool," I said, coolly.

Suddenly, Mike paused as he looked at the tickets I had produced from my back pocket. He looked confused.

"Hey, Edward, you've given me two?"

"Yeah, one for you and your lady-friend," I grinned.

"Hm, I don't really think that this is Bella's sort of thing. I can see her awkwardly sitting when we go to normal clubs, let alone these, man," Mike explained.

"Oh, I wasn't talking about Bella. I was talking about that other fuckable thing you were out with the other night," I laughed, hoping that he wasn't cottoning on to my plan.

"_Ah_, I get you. Yeah, I wasn't sure if you were going to notice, man!" He smiled, looking so smug. I wanted to punch all of his fucking teeth out and then shove them up his ass.

"How could I not notice some serious playin'?" I chuckled. Inside, I felt a little bit sick.

"Well, you know how I do," Mike said.

"Exactly. That's how _we_ do," I answered.

"I'll give one to Tanya, I'm seeing her now actually. Probably going to stay a couple of nights." He winked at me, but I still wanted to vomit. How could he do something like that to Bella? _Little, sweet,_ Bella. _Man,_ I was getting whipped for sure. But it was _Bella_ - and she melted me. "I'm sure she'd love to come. I'd better not mention that you own the club though, she got a little funny with you last time," Mike suggested.

"Yeah, best not to mention it's me, even though everyone knows that I own it!" I smiled at him.

"True, but Tanya's as thick as two short planks, seriously - she won't know unless you tell her."

I laughed, as his words were pretty evident. "Why are you heading over to her place then?" I had to admit I was curious as to why he left the wonderful Bella for someone who didn't know toast from bread.

"Er, hello?" Mike laughed, and then used his hands to motion an hourglass figure, and then thrust his pelvis up to show exactly what he saw in Tanya. Brilliant.

I paused at his gesture and I guess my face appeared in thought. It suddenly pained me to think of something so horrific that hadn't really crossed my mind yet. Was he doing those things to Bella? The idea of it made me want to spew. No, she seemed so innocent and pure - there was no way. But they were engaged? I guess some part of me wished she was celibate. If I was the only one to taste those lips, to massage those wondrous breasts, to feel her oh-so-mouth-watering ass...

"Dude?" Mike waved his hand in my face and then looked down at my pants. "Seriously, looks like you've missed a night. Get out there, man!"

I was almost embarrassed. Not that this douchebag saw me almost experiencing a full erection, but because he was there whilst I thought of the girl that was weirdly becoming so important to me. He needed to leave. Thankfully, he did just that off his own accord.

"See you then," Mike waved at me, looked down at my pants, laughed again and began to head off.

"Wait, Mike?" I called after him, after remembering something I had forgotten to ask out of curiosity.

"Yeah, Edward?"

"Where does Bella think you're going? Are you not going to tell her?"

"Nah, I usually go out for a couple of nights a week without telling her. The silly girl thinks I'm starting a new 'business'. Yeah, er, business with my _cock!"_ Mike laughed triumphantly and it took every power with in me not to shove him against the wall and rip his eyes out. I hated every inch of that guy and I knew he had to pay. He didn't deserve Bella. In fact, he didn't even deserve anything.

"Yeah, good one man, see you," I answered him half-heartedly, wanting to squirm at the idea of anyone doing that to my Bella.

_My _Bella. As if there was any truth to those words. Perhaps there would be soon, if everything went to plan.

But it did. After a few moments of persuasion and eye fluttering from her friend Esme, Bella agreed to meet me at the club the next day. I was over the fucking moon.

So there I was. Fucking grinning - just because a girl had agreed to meet me at my club.

_I was fucking whipped._

I walked back to Violet for the auditions with a smile on my face. I even greeted Jasper, Emmett and James with a hug. Manly hugs of course, nothing gay - but they were a little freaked out at my over-excitement.

"Whipped," James whispered as he shook his head.

"No way man, just completely hot for this girl," I answered.

"Have you even fucked her yet?" he asked.

"All in good time, man," I retorted. I had to move away from him as quick as I could as the idea of fucking Bella was almost making me tremble with arousal. I needed to concentrate on something else, immediately.

I walked into the room where the girls where doing a full on dress – if you could call it that – rehearsal and my heart sank and then my face dropped. I looked in the middle of the stage and the sight of an empty pole shook me. After obsessing over Bella for the past week I had completely forgotten about the club and the missing dancer.

And the show was tomorrow.

"What's wrong, Mr Cullen?" Jasper asked me, looking worried at the sight of my pale face.

"We're missing a girl," I lamely replied.

"You knew that. You knew that from the start!"

"Then why didn't you fucking find me another girl?" I asked him, bowled over and fucking angry. I wasn't sure why I was so suddenly outraged, but at the present minute my emotions were all over the place. I went from anger, to arousal, to anger, to fucking arousal. But now I was fucking furious. I didn't even remember about our shortage of girls.

"I tried! Don't you remember the auditions when you wouldn't choose anybody?"

"We didn't see enough people!" I roared in return.

"We were there all day, Mr Cullen! Then you started obsessing over that Bella Swan, claiming you were certain she would work for you! But she's not, is she?"

His words were harmful and I certainly did not expect that tone from Jasper. I was fuming. I wasn't obsessed with her, and how dare he accuse me of it. But the worst pain in my anger was the fact that he was right. I did say Bella would work for me and she wasn't. It was my fault. But I couldn't let Jasper know that - I was Edward fucking Cullen: responsible for nothing but wet panties.

"How dare you speak to me like that, Jasper? How...how..._fucking_...dare you?"

He started to move back a little, as if more than intimidated by my words. He knew that he had hit a sensitive spot. "I'm sorry Mr Cullen; it's just stupid that you would get annoyed when actually..."

"Do you want to keep your job, Jasper?" I asked him, absolutely incensed with vehemence.

"Yes, of course I do, but you can't blame me for..."

"I can do what ever well I fucking well please, Jasper," I began.

"Why? Because you're 'Edward fucking Cullen'?"

I was shocked at what he was saying, but too angry to respond. However, Jasper carried on.

"I have worked my ass of for you this past week to get everything right, choreographing, calling all the guests, getting Carlisle's flight booked, all the decorations and all this shit! Whereas all you have done is gone after little Bella Swan and then you ask me why I haven't found another girl? You told me there _was_ no other girl!"

He was breathing heavily and so was I. You could have fucking cut the tension around the room with a knife.

I couldn't believe what he was saying. I had to do something fast before I hurt somebody. The whisky shots that James had given me on the way in were starting to hit my head and I knew that something would happen if I didn't act fast before everything went wrong. Before I saw _red_.

"Get out Jasper, you can't work here anymore," I explained, trying to hide the aggression in my voice.

"But Mr - "

"No, just leave. I don't need you anymore. You didn't find me a girl, and now we're empty, centre pole. I think it's best if you just _go_."

"No!" Alice cried as she held out her hand wistfully to Jasper. He looked at her back with worry on his face, and then he looked back at me. Guilt was written all over him. What the fuck was this?

"Wait," I started. "No fucking way." I laughed a little, glad that I had found something more to justify taking Jasper's job away from him. "So, Jasper, you've been fucking one of my girls, too? Is that it?"

"What, er, Alice and I, we're just... look, I'm leaving. You've said your bit Mr Cullen so I'm going to leave. I get it. I'm fired."

He began to walk out of the door.

"Jasper, I want to come with you," Alice stated, looking at me first and then looking at Jasper, determination in her face. What the fuck was this? A fucking revolt?

"Do you want to lose your job too? Is that it? You know if you do that Alice, you'll have to find another job. And that next job will want a reference from your old boss. And do you know who that is, my love?" I smiled at her.

"You," she answered.

"Exactly, darling. Now, you don't want your next job to know what you really did at work, now, do you?" I smiled again.

"Are you coming?" Jasper held his hand out for Alice, but she remained indecisive.

"I don't know, Jas, I can't," she explained. _Won, again, Jasper._

"But I love you," he whispered. Oh, _hoh_. This was too fucking good.

"Alice?" I looked at her, an evil grin on my face. Fuck, my cheeks were hurting from all the fucking grinning today.

"I'm sorry," she mouthed at Jasper.

She walked over to me and rubbed my arm to prove her decision. Jasper looked at her, hurt written all over his face. If I hadn't been so fucking angry or worried about what would happen to my club, I would have let him keep his job. But his arguments were disrupting the way in which the day needed to work. The only way I could make sure everything went to plan was if I took over and controlled everything. It was the only way.

"Say Alice, you know I haven't had some office work done in a while, do you mind helping me?" I asked. It would be easier manifesting this sort of thing in front of Jasper so he could cut all ties more easily. I did care for that guy, and there was some part of me that insisted that he got out of this more easily so it would hurt less.

But maybe I was wrong. A tear trickled down his cheek as he watched Alice. _I don't mean it, Jas!_ I wanted to say. _I just want you to get over it more quickly, I promise! I don't even want Alice; I just want to pretend she's Bella._

He turned on his foot and left. The whole room stayed silent as we listened to Jasper walking out. We heard a huge crash of the door, which sent shivers down my spine.

But I had no room for emotions now – I would deal with them another time. Right now, I needed to get the club ready for what was already going to be the most anticipated night of my whole entire life.

_**The next night…**_

The lights were strong, my head was spinning rather painfully and my forehead was feeling slightly sweaty. My nerves were beginning to show even before now; I needed more alcohol.

I turned to my left to find Carlisle Masen entering the club. Fuck, the alcohol would have to wait for now.

"Edward – so nice to finally meet you, old chap," Carlisle said to me in a thick English accent. He held his hand for me to shake. I shook it firmly with a broad smile.

"And you, sir," I grinned.

He looked around him, stepping slightly away from me. "Now, I must say – the club is looking very pristine. The designer for the décor did a very fine job!" he laughed and shamefully, my mind just went back to Jasper. Guilt swept over me but I still managed to maintain my composure.

"Thank you," I remarked. "Let me show you to your box, sir," I said, and then guided him to the best booth of the club. It was already set up with the strip club standards: bottles of champagne, whisky, absinthe, imported tobacco from India and general seating for anyone who wished to join him. I had already thought of my Rose to recommend, but it was up to Carlisle to pick from the stage. Of course this night was about him – even though sometimes in my mind it just seemed about Bella.

Maybe it was a good thing that Bella didn't want to work at Violet because it would have meant that she would have been dancing tonight. I was sure that Carlisle would have chosen her from the stage, and then things would have gotten fucking messy.

"Excellent, Cullen," Carlisle smiled. "But you know the real rating I will give will be of your show – but nice try in softening me up beforehand. This whole night had better be good," he winked.

"Oh it will be, Mr. Masen," I explained. However, inside I was a little bit terrified. I knew the dance was good enough – but what would he make of the blatant empty pole in the middle of the stage? I couldn't put one of the girls there because it would ruin the dance and make the stage look uneven. I couldn't even decipher which decision would have been worse.

I just had to hope and pray for some sort of fucking miracle.

As I sat down in my own booth with a bottle of JD and a cigarette, I watched below as people began to arrive with hope that maybe I might see a certain someone amongst the crowd of guests that were flurrying through the doors.

However, I couldn't see her – or her friend. Maybe she wasn't going to turn up; as if the night couldn't get any worse.

"Hey, Edward!" someone called from below my booth. I looked down expectantly, hoping Bella's voice might have dropped a few octaves. Of course, it hadn't.

"Big E! How's it going?" the tool said. It was Mike and he was with his bitch, Tanya. As if anyone else could sound so dick-ish. I waved at him patronizingly and got back to my bottle, my only source of solace for the night. Bella wasn't coming, I was never going to get her and the stupid idiot down below me was having every inch of her to himself. It still made me want to vomit.

I needed a hit to take my mind of things.

I took one last swig of the bottle and then leant down to hit the last package Jasper had given to me before he left. I knelt right down and out of sight, piled the cocaine along the table and took my American Express card out to sort a line. I snorted the crack slowly and surely, it gave me the hit that I needed so badly. I'm sure the only hit I would have needed would have been seeing Bella, but she wasn't even there.

However, just as I lifted my head up to get my mind back to where the club was, my nose aching and a rush flowing to my head, I almost saw a light. Something incredible caught my eye as I gazed half-heartedly near the door.

There she was – looking even more gorgeous than I had ever remembered. How was that even fucking possible? I felt as if the doors of heaven had opened and all the angels were singing…

…but that was just the coke. I still thought she was fucking hot.

She looked around the club; her arm firmly locked in with her friend Esme's as if she was nervous about coming to my club. Fuck, I would be if I was her. She was about to have a very epic night.

Slowly yet certainly, she looked up at my booth as I continued to stare at her. She held my gaze as if she were seeing me for the very first time. Fuck, I was doing exactly the same thing. I didn't even know if it was just the coke that was making my heart beat like a fucking beat box on overload. She cocked her head slightly and gave me a small smile as if to say, "Look, I'm here now for you – you happy?"

I shrugged and laughed at her. She looked like she laughed back, but it was almost hard to tell from this height. I could still see that she was so fucking striking that I wanted to smile back at her over and over until my cheeks fucking fell off.

She finally broke our eye contact when Esme pulled her over, having found their seat numbers that I had assigned for them. Cleverly worked out, I had placed them three rows back from Mike and his little puppy. Mike had already sat down and was fondling Tanya in a way that Bella would see that they were more than just "colleagues". She would see everything, and maybe there would finally be some justice in the world.

I sat back in my seat, fucking grinned like I had been most of the fucking day, and waited for the show to commence.

* * *

**Author's Note: **

Things are still crazy but more updates should be on their way. Got up to Chapter 18 drafts done so I will post as often as possible. Hope you're still enjoying the story - let me know if you are! Please review or let me know on twitter - I'm there under edieswan.

Until next time!

PS. The next chapter is epic.


	10. Pour Some Revenge

**Author's Note:**

Here is the epic chapter I promised. I loved writing this one - hope you enjoy it, too!

* * *

**_BPOV_**

So, I decided to go to the club – Violet, to be exact. And well, Esme decided that we were going and to be completely honest, I wasn't going to defy her as much as much as I had expected that I would. Mike would be out that night, anyway, so a girls night out would probably be something that I needed after the stressful past few days.

Except that the main source of my stress, other than my tardiness, was because of my conflicting feelings for Edward Cullen – the guy who maddened me yet entranced me. You know when you hear someone talking about a "love-hate relationship"? Well, that sort of got ours, at least on my part, down to a tee.

However, we were now going to Violet and that was that. Yes, it was a strip club consisting of Edward's whores only, but hey – it was different and that was sort of what I needed. Besides, Esme was so intent on seeing Edward again and trying to get us to pursue a relationship that there was no way that I was getting out of it.

Esme came to my apartment beforehand since the club was nearer my place than to hers, which was sort of a mistake. Immediately she raided my closet and all of my drawers trying to find something delectable for me to wear. She had already made me put on my "sexy" underwear that I had worn in front of Edward claiming that it would apparently 'bring back good memories' and added that "you can never be too prepared'.I just felt embarrassed.

As per usual, she looked absolutely stunning in a tight purple body-con dress with white patent heels that showed of her tall, slim figure. Her reddish-brown hair was straightened and hung sexily and loosely over her shoulders. She looked like a complete goddess. I just felt like a pauper compared to her.

"You look really nice, Esme," I whispered.

"Thanks, girl! I gotta look nice for Violet – I'm sure Edward has some pretty good looking friends. Not to mention _riche_!" she laughed.

I smiled back at her and then she stopped rifling through my clothes. For some really strange reason, she looked absolutely startled.

"What is it?" I asked.

She turned to look at me. "Isabella Marie Swan."

"What?" I hated it when she used my full name; it was what I used to do to the kids back at the school when they were in trouble. But in actual fact, it had the complete same effect on me.

Esme turned back to the draw, then to me, holding out something that I hoped she wouldn't find. "Oh," I exclaimed as soon as I had seen it. Crap.

"Honey, you have _got_ to wear this. This has 'Edward Cullen bait' written _all _over it." She was grinning at me wickedly now, and I couldn't help but smile back. Her smile was broad and infectious; just like somebody's that I knew…

I coughed and slipped back into reality. "Esme! You are so bad – you know I'm still with Mike!"

"Yes I know that, but I still don't know why," she sighed.

I rolled my eyes at her; she'd never been happy about Mike and I, but after my parents, I had learned to get used to it. "I love him, Esme, and that's why."

"Again, I don't know why," she said as she began rummaging through my make-up draw. "What's he doing tonight then anyway? Still doing business with that sour-face whore, Tanya?"

"Yes," I retorted, reluctantly. I had low taste for that woman. It wasn't even jealousy; she just belittled me all the time. "And then he said he might hit a bar with the boys afterwards - which is absolutely fine by me. I'd kinda rather he didn't know about tonight – he might get a little bit funny about it."

"So really, while he's allowed to do whatever with his 'business' and then go out with the guys after, you would rather he didn't know about you going out with one of your best friends? Sometimes I think you need to have a head check, Bella. Plus, I reckon you should be thinking about fishing for a bit of Edward Cullen tonight – _regardless_ – don't you?" Esme threw the dress at me and I nervously laughed.

"I know that he can be a bit…distant. But I'm not going to cheat on him…_regardless_."

"Who said anything about cheating on Mike, Bella?" Esme asked. "You can still give Edward an eye feast – someone needs to tame that bad boy – even though it looks like you're already doing a damn good job." She winked at me.

"Shut up," I said, but I couldn't help smiling. "But you have to tell me if this dress looks ridiculous, okay?"

"Always do," Esme said playfully, and then winked at me again.

I laughed and then put the dress on. It felt slightly tighter than the last time I had worn it; probably because that was about four years ago. Now that I filled it even more, the dress hugged me in the way that…amplified some of my features. I wasn't sure about how it would look, but I felt a little uncomfortable.

I turned to Esme and expected her to say something about how slutty I looked, but instead she was speechless for a moment. Suddenly, she said, "Turn around and look in the mirror. Right now."

I did as I was told and turned to the full length mirror standing next to my closet. As I did so, I gawked.

I stared into the mirror in awe – it just didn't look like me. I wasn't even sure why I looked so different – it was just a typical little black dress. But this time when I wore it, the lace panels below my bust caressed my ivory skin, the silk material over my breasts and the bottom of my dress held in my curves and showed off my figure in a way that was almost innovative. For once, in my mind, I actually looked kind of…_sexy_.

"You look so fantastic, Bella," Esme said as she stepped by my side. When she stood next to me, I felt her aesthetic equal. Maybe as good as the Violet girls.

"I think we look alright," I told her.

"Yes!" she screeched in delight. "We look more than alright, you silly girl! We'll just give you some big hair and some smoky eyes – and you'll be perfect." She then paused and gave me a wicked grin. "_He_ will love it."

"I hope you mean Mike," I giggled hesitantly.

Esme raised her eyebrows at me and I instantly looked away and back into the mirror, breathed in and smiled. "Ready to go soon, then?"

"Hey, what happened to our tequila shots?," Esme screamed. I laughed and rolled my eyes at her.

"Oh yeah, okay. I'll just get the lemons and the salt," I retorted.

Before I moved, Esme implored me. "What?" I asked her, confused.

She put her hand on mine. "Listen, Bells. It's okay to have fun, you know. You don't need to look so guilty about it all the time!"

I shrugged her hand off. "I am having fun and I'm fine," I insisted. "I just need to have a bit to drink first and then our girls night will be underway, okay?"

"Yeah, you want to be drunk and in time for Edward to see you looking _fiiiiine_," Esme explained, pinching me on the forearm.

I mimicked hitting her back and then she batted me away. "Where's my tequila then, Ms Swan?"

_**2 hours later...**_

As our taxi pulled up to the front of the club, my eyes fuzzed with delight. Okay, so we'd had a little too much tequila and maybe it was the all the spirit talking, but Violet looked absolutely fantastic – and that was just from the outside.

"Woah," I said as Esme looked at me and laughed. Although she seemed as if she was just as much in awe as I was – her eyes were as big as Bambi's.

The taxi man kindly pulled the door open for us (probably because we drunkenly couldn't do it ourselves) and we stumbled out with glee. We staggered along the street and up to the queue in our stupidly high shoes and then laughed when I noticed that the vast majority of the people queuing up were male.

We queued for about an hour before we finally got to the end of the queue and to the bouncers at the door. Luckily, there were a couple of guys behind us, Alec and Caius who were very interested in why us – girls! – were at this club. We kept them entertained with multiple stories about how we were actually secret dancers imported from England who, despite our American accent, were meant to look like guests but then dance later. I wasn't sure if they realised how pissed we were.

As soon as we got to the bouncer, I have him our tickets and flashed him a huge smile.

The bouncer looked up at me and then at Esme and called the other guy towards him and whispered in his ear. I looked at Esme in confusion, but then back to the two bouncers who were now smiling widely at us. "James you were right – Cullen did get her to come," first man said.

"I told you, Emmett," the other smiled. "Nice to meet you, Ms Swan."

"And you," I replied. I didn't know why they knew my name, but at that moment I didn't care. "This is my friend Esme." I indicated to Esme who did a small curtsey.

"I'm Emmett, and this is James, as I'm sure you would have picked up. Now, someone should show you in and there you will find your seats. If you need anything, just ask one of us two. Mr. Cullen told us to get anything you need – which includes free drinks, food…a dance, if you feel so inclined."

Esme squealed and squeezed my arm in excitement. "Thank you," I replied with a smile. "We will let you know."

"In you go then, ladies." Emmett smiled and then indicated for us to go inside.

Inside was even more spectacular than I had imagined. Compared to the outside, it was even what some would call magnificent. I stood still for a moment to take the whole club in. Esme tugged at my arm. "Bella, we need to get to our seats!"

"One second," I whispered, scanning the room for someone I may or may not have been looking forward to seeing. I didn't know why and it didn't exactly help my unhealthy obsession that I had with him, but the alcohol made me even more eager to see Edward.

"Okay, I'll find them and then you look out for me," Esme said and then staggered off to find our seats.

I gazed upon the obvious Moulin Rouge theme. Maybe the club had some burlesque essence to it? I wasn't really sure but after seeing the girls at the audition I had guessed it wasn't really a classy sort of club. But then again, it had a good reputation so… maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought. Actually, it seemed pretty cool.

The large stage in the centre of the club was certainly extravagant. There were five poles around the stage and then one straight in the middle – obviously for the main dancer. I wondered whether Edward had found another girl to dance as I had declined him many times. A slight pang of jealousy hit me when I realized he could have been having the same sort of conversations with other girls at the same time as me. Maybe he had given them all free tickets, too.

_Just the alcohol, Bella_, I told myself as I was becoming paranoid too.

Suddenly, I felt a pair of eyes on me and my instinct told me to look up. As I did so, I caught sight of something that startled me. Obviously, it was the person that I had been shamefully looking for – Edward. And he looked so damn beautiful that even when I saw him, I kept on being startled. It was like I was properly noticing him for the first time. It was really, really weird.

He looked like a king up there in his booth, and we, all his people down here, were certainly worshipping him. Well, I certainly wanted to. I felt a bit helpless at the bottom, when all I really wanted to do at that moment, despite how perplexing it was, was to go up to that booth and wrap my arms around him.

I stared at him, still, just imploring his eyes a little while he stared back. We stared for a long time; as if we were studying each other's reactions to one another. I shrugged my shoulders and smiled at him to let him know that I was here for him, and I hoped that he was happy.

He shrugged back and then laughed at me; he was definitely happy, and so was I. I laughed back at him again and so desperately wished that I could go and sit with him in his booth, but then Esme interrupted and tugged at my arm, indicating that she had found our seats. I looked at Edward before Esme could pull my arm off and my stomach lurched with excitement. I broke the gaze as my friend sadly pulled me away.

"I found our seats ages ago, what are you doing? Quick, the show's about to start," Esme jokingly scolded me and then found the seats that were three rows back from the front. We quietly crept as the room went dark and ultraviolet lights lit up the stage. I suddenly felt extremely dizzy as the flashing lights and the loud music felt a lot more intense with the alcohol rushing through my blood stream.

The first dance started with two dancers I recognised from the painful auditions a week ago. They looked absolutely amazing, as always and I watched as they carefully grinded the poles in a sexy yet tasteful way. And they weren't even naked or anything – just dancing skilfully. It was actually…enjoyable.

Then three other dancers joined them. The first was pale with extraordinary fiery red curly hair. She took another one of the back poles and accompanied the others. The next two came out together. One was exceptionally tall with dark-ish skin and long brown glossy hair. The other was a honey blonde, short and curvy and a brilliant smile. They joined the other two back poles and all five of the dancers grinded to a steady rhythm. It was fascinating.

Men were whistling and shouting; the atmosphere was very exciting and passionate. As soon as the girls began to remove part of their clothing, it got even more thrilling. There was a guy about three rows in front who was whistling a little overenthusiastically, and his girlfriend was obviously not happy about it. Esme and I laughed as we watched. If we were sober, perhaps I would have been a little bit more judgemental. But as even more complementary champagne was being handed around, my conscience seemed to be disappearing and I just went with it all. It was like a dream.

After the first couple of songs, we waited for another dancer to come to the centre pole, but it never happened. After a while, I did notice that the show looked sort of…incomplete. I wasn't an expert on pole dancing – but even I could see that it was a little random just having an empty pole in the middle of the stage. Edward obviously hadn't found another dancer. I was secretly relieved.

As the last dance to "Birthday Sex" by Jeremiah finally ended, the lights came back on and the girls went backstage. Who knew that strip shows had intervals?

"Wanna drink?" Esme asked me.

"Sure, but the tequila and all that champagne hasn't really worn off yet," I retorted as I stood up and nearly fell over with what felt like vertigo. I was definitely at a rather high level of drunkenness.

"Bella you are such a lightweight," Esme laughed, but then tripped over a seat on her way to the bar. She turned around on the floor and looked at me – we both cried out in laughter. She was hilarious, sometimes.

"Go and get a drink then – maybe a light one since it obviously hasn't even worn off on you yet, Es!" I laughed. "I'll wait here."

I sat down at a seat at the end of the row and waited for my friend to come back out with the drinks. I watched the stage and thought of Edward and the missing girl. I remembered him saying about the reviewer coming from London to see the show and that he would be screwed if he couldn't find another dancer. I felt a pit of guilt in my stomach as I thought if I had just danced for one show – it may have saved his ass. But I wasn't going to waste my dignity for someone like Edward – I knew the one thing that was on his mind. Even though sometimes the same thing happened to cross mine.

I looked up to the booth to see if I could catch a glimpse of him again. Sure enough I did, but this time another man had joined him. He was tall, blonde and very handsome. But he seemed to be angry at Edward and Edward seemed to be hanging his head in shame. _That must be Carlisle Masen,_ I thought. I wanted to go over and hug Edward and tell him I was sorry, but I was so drunk I didn't want to risk getting up and falling over just like Esme had done.

After Carlisle had left Edward, he gazed down and saw me staring at him. We continued to stare at each other for a while and finally, Edward forced out a smile. I smiled back and gave him a little wave. He waved back at me and then took a swig of what seemed like whisky. He pointed to the bottle and seemed to be asking if I wanted to share. I shook my head and laughed thinking about the damage that whisky would do to me, but I decided to walk up to his booth anyway. Under the influence of all this tequila and champagne, I had lost a lot of inhibition and saw no harm in visiting him. After all, he looked so damn good and I just wanted to hear his voice.

Suddenly I was interrupted by Esme with our drinks. "Malibu and coke, baby!" she shouted.

"Thanks," I exclaimed, trying to take my drink off Esme, but she held onto it. "What took you so long?"

I tugged at the drink, but she still wouldn't let go. "Esme, give me my drink," I laughed.

But she continued to hold onto it. I stopped tugging at the drink in her hand and then looked at her face. I stopped laughing when I realized she had frozen and the look on her face had shock written all over it. What could possibly cause her to look like that? "Esme?" I shook my head in confusion and turned around to follow her gaze.

Regrettably, the scene was more shocking than Esme's face read. In fact, it was fucking horrifying. There was the lout from the last dance that was whistling…_canoodling_ with his "girlfriend".

But it wasn't his girlfriend. _I_ was his girlfriend.

It was Mike.

For a moment, I was still and silent. I wasn't saying anything, but I could feel tears uncontrollably streaming down my face as I couldn't look away from what was happening right in front of my eyes. They weren't just kissing – they were properly making out. Their hands were all over each other as if they couldn't get enough; as if they knew the ins and outs of each others' bodies. I wanted to vomit. It was as if I had just been punched in the stomach and my guts were about to fall out of my butt. How _could_ he?

"I'm so sorry, Bella," Esme whispered.

I ignored her and continued to look at the happy couple. He had his hands on her breasts now and she was laughing. Then, another blow went to my stomach as I recognised the slut that he was with: Tanya – the woman I had been happy to let Mike do "business" with for over a year. My hands clenched into fists as I watched my fiancé and the one person I loathed more than Edward Cullen kissing like they were in love. My body was so tense I wasn't sure if I could move. The only evidence of my mobility was in the significant shudder as I realised what their _real_ business was. Another punch hit me at full throttle while I tried not to pass out.

After a moment or two, I regained what was left of my composure.

"Keep hold of my drink, Esme," I spat as I clenched my fists even harder.

"Okay," she whispered, not knowing quite what to say for once.

I walked over to the happy couple and stood just next to them. They continued to laugh and my heart continued to break. It took everything in me not to just scream out. But instead, I coughed to let them know I was there. Oh God, what was I doing?

Mike turned around, screamed and fell back into his seat. "Bella!" He nervously jittered. "What are you doing here?"

"I was going to ask you the same, actually" I bluntly stated.

"I got given tickets by Edward Cullen himself," Mike said, feeling suddenly defensive.

"So did I," I whispered and then looked up at the booth to find that Edward was gone. I was sidetracked momentarily – only to distract me from the cruel reality that I was being presented with. I couldn't even feel my tears now as they continued to flow perpetually.

Mike appeared uneven and blameworthy. "Look Bella, I am so sorry… I just…"

"You just what? Cheated on me? You are a fucking asshole!" I exploded.

"I'm so sorry, baby, I didn't know how it happened. And fuck, I was going to end it, I promise! I just couldn't… I don't know, it was a mistake, it's just…"

Mike!" the bitch – Tanya – wailed.

"No!" I screamed. The anger was all spilling out now; I should have worried about coming across as coherent, but I didn't care. "The mistake is completely _mine_ – for ever agreeing to marry a dick like you!"

"No, no, Bella!" Mike was breathless now. "You didn't make a mistake," Mike whispered. "I just… you're…well, I just can't say it!"

I couldn't take it anymore: Mike's lying, Tanya's smug face, and all the champagne that was hitting me hard. It all began to overflow like lava.

"You are a fucking little _shit_, Mike Newton! People have told me that you were trouble – I even defied my parents for _you!_ We don't speak anymore… because of _you!_ I thought it was for love…but how could I love someone who would do this?" I looked around at the people that were starting to observe our vivid conversation, but I didn't care. Mike deserved to be publically humiliated – after all, what he had done was humiliation to the extreme. "What you have done is absolutely _unthinkable_!" My breathing was very erratic. "You… are… a BASTARD!"

Mike looked as if he was about to cry. "I do love you Bella, you know I do. It's just…ah, fuck it, I just had to do this."

I didn't care about his stupid fluffy animal-like face or the tears that were spilling out of it. "What the fuck are you talking about? How can you 'have' to do something as callous as cheating on me with fucking Tanya Denali, slut of the town?"

"Excuse me, bitch," Tanya snapped back. I had never been involved in a catfight before – I was far too nice – but I wasn't being the nice girl anymore. My heart couldn't take anymore blows. I had to blow them back.

"I think you're the bitch here, honey, taking my fiancé right in front of me!" I drunkenly slurred. Thankfully Mike was sitting in between us or otherwise in my drunken state I certainly would have throttled her. The fucking bitch.

"I had to do it because…sometimes, I think you're not right for me, Bella," Mike said, his eyes all sad and puppy-dog like. I wanted to fucking shoot that little puppy.

"How am _I_ not right for _you_?" I sighed deeply. "Jesus, Mike! You don't have a job, all you do is lounge around, drink… and sleep around with trash like Tanya!"

As I shouted, the lights turned off and the stage was lit up again. _Shit,_ I show was about to start, but I wasn't finished yet.

"So go on, tell me, _dear Mike_, how am I not right for you? I'm dying to know." Everyone was listening in the club now, but I didn't care. I was too fucking mad. I could have been stark naked with a clowns nose, bunny ears and gigantic shoes for all cared.

Mike looked embarrassed as he regarded all of the scowling faces around us. He looked shifty as if looking for an answer, but it seemed as if the truth was the only way out of this one. "Well, I was bored, okay? Bored of us, bored of what we do…"

My mouth was hanging open. Another punch. "_Boring_? You think I'm _boring_?

"Not here, Bella," Mike pleaded, looking around again. "Please. We can't talk about it here. Let's go home?"

"Tell me," I demanded. "I want to know."

He paused and his voice sounded incredibly high pitched. I was making him shit his pants. "Well, you hardly ever go out with me. You just work or sleep all the time and I don't know… when I am here, you don't want to do what I want to do, or you're not there. I couldn't live like that anymore, alright?

"So I'm your fucking _dog_?"

"No, it's not like that Bella it's just – Tanya does all the things that I want to do. We go out, we have fun – we're young, you know. And me and you… we're acting like we're an old married couple – I can't live like that, I just can't."

I was fuming and my chest was pumping heavily. All the rage was consuming me and I thought I was about to detonate. I looked at Mike and he winced as if he thought I was about to hit him hard. But no, I was going to do something a lot more painful than that. After all I had done for him, how hard I had worked so I could support him, how much I thought I loved him – it was all a waste of time. Everything meant nothing. All my rage abolished any love I ever had for him. Now I was just angry, drunk and I wanted revenge.

The music started to play and it was the recognisable "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard. The hot intro was playing my mood and I continued to stare into Mike's scared eyes maliciously. I smiled at him wickedly and he flinched. He was going to get it, alright.

"You think I'm boring, Mike?"

Mike didn't answer. I looked up at the booth that Edward had occupied and saw that he had returned. He nodded at me as if he understood my intentions and looked at the centre pole. I looked at it too, and then turned back to Mike, grinning so wickedly now. This was it.

"I'll show you boring, baby."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Hmm... I wonder what Bella is going to do up on that stage? First prize for the best guesses.

Let's share some love in the form of a review or mingle on twitter - I'm on there under _edieswan_.

ES X


	11. Karma's a Bitch

**Author's Note:**

Sorry for the delay, everything with the mood was a little hectic. Anyway, news for those who are interested – I've moved back to London after 2 weeks! I decided that I left too many things behind here so am going to stay for another year or so.

So to more relevant things, here is the next chapter. Please enjoy!

* * *

_**EPOV**_

His breath was in my face, his glare actually fucking scared me, but the most terrifying thing was the disappointed and "you've failed" tone of Carlisle Masen's voice. The guy that was going to make me or most likely fucking tear me and my club to pieces.

"Why is there an empty pole on the stage, Mr. Cullen?" Carlisle demanded. "This is not acceptable. You promised me this 'dream-worthy' performance and yet you know that it's an unwritten rule in all strip clubs _never_ to leave an empty pole!" Then he smiled as if suddenly surprised. "Especially the centre pole!"

I tried to smile along with him, as if it were all a part of my plan. "Yes, Mr. Masen, but have you seen the other girls? They're doing a great job if I must say so myself. My Rose has a fantastic number coming up in the next bit and the crowd seems to be enjoying it," I replied, but inside I was cowering like a scared little girl. Jasper was right – I had fucked this up.

"You had better show me something better in this second act because you know that I will bring your club down if you don't," he said sincerely. And then the laugh came back as if he were genuinely bemused. "This is just plain weird! Who leaves their centre pole free? Why didn't you just put one of your other girls on? What about your Rose?"

"Just wait," I answered back with some sort of false sense of hope. I needed a miracle, and a desperately fast one.

I sighed, took a toke of my cigarette and then looked down – and there she was, the miracle.

Bella smiled at me as I looked on her from my booth. She slipped back into her chair a little as she did so – she must have been a bit tipsy. I smiled back at her still and then she gave me a small wave. Of course, I waved back but then took a large swig of the good whisky when my gaze averted at the stage to notice the perpetually empty centre pole.

One last try, I thought. I pointed to the whisky bottle and tried to indicate to her whether she wanted to come up and drink with me. Perhaps in her slightly enhanced state, she might have wanted to change her mind about dancing for me. However, she shook her head. I took another swig.

I watched her for a little bit longer as her friend Esme approached her with another free drink that she was given by the bar. Bella seemed happy to see her at first, but then suddenly it seemed like something was going on. I tried to decipher why Esme was looking so transfixed and horrified, and it seemed as if Bella was doing exactly the same thing. Then, I followed Esme's gaze and realised that my plan was finally coming into action.

I froze with excitement. Esme was looking at Tanya and Mike – and now, so was Bella.

I retreated back to my booth and out of eyesight as if to be more inconspicuous. Although I wanted to look and watch her finally come to her senses about the truth of her "fiancé" and his "colleague", something was still pulling me away from it. Guilt? Conscience, maybe? I wasn't sure, but I still wasn't able to watch it. Maybe I just didn't want to see Bella literally get hurt.

Then, I began to hear shouting from below. I recognised it to be Bella's voice and I winced. I had done this to her. Why couldn't I have just told her about it in the first place, rather than setting it up like this? It would have been a little bit nicer, at least. But no, I had to leave it until now to play it like a fucking show. I couldn't bear the thought of her being upset as she sounded. Was it the alcohol and the drugs that were making me such a goddamn pansy?

I hoped so.

Just then, James arrived from downstairs. "The girls are ready for the next part, Mr. Cullen. Do you want me to set the lights now? It's been fifteen minutes."

"Excellent, James. Yes, as soon as possible, please."

Almost immediately, the lights went down and everyone stopped talking. Except one person – who was now shouting at the top of her fucking lungs. Even I could hear her loud and clear from my booth. What the fuck was she doing? I took a peek down below and could just make her out beneath the dim lights. She was right over where Mike was sitting.

"You think I'm boring?" she shouted.

The lights came on the stage which conveniently lit up where Bella was standing, as she was now on the front row. Mike was cowering in his seat, obviously not wanting to make a fuss in front of all the people that were watching. He looked shit scared and it was fucking hilarious. I continued to watch as Bella came down on him hard. The music began to play one of my favourites "Pour Some Sugar on Me" and then Bella looked around.

She looked up at my booth and then it all came to me. I looked at the centre pole and then looked back at her. "You're not boring," I said under my breath and then I nodded at her. She looked back at the pole and then nodded at me. She then turned back to Mike with what looked like the most evil smile on her face.

If nobody else had been watching this, I wouldn't have been able to make out what Bella said. However, except for the music, everything was silent. "I'll show you boring, baby."

The whole crowd roared which only seemed to spur her on. Was she actually going to do this? I almost couldn't watch. But then again, I wouldn't have missed what she was about to do for the world. My jaw dropped about fifty feet as she stepped on stage.

_Fuck. Me._

I walked down from the booth that I was residing in and then onto the aisle between the seats. There in front of me, was Bella, climbing up onto the stage. I stared at her in absolute awe. Even though she was definitely under the influence of alcohol, she got up on stage as smoothly as a dancer would have been expected to do. I walked closer and then stood right by the edge of the stage, right next to where Mike was sitting. He glanced to the side briefly at me, but his eyes were immediately diverted to the view that was being presented on the stage: something he was severely going to miss.

"What the hell is she doing?" I heard Tanya whisper, but Mike just batted her away with his hands. She was completely insignificant at this moment with Bella Swan standing by a pole.

As the intro was coming to an end, she placed her hand on the pole, acknowledged me and then placed her feet about a shoulders' width apart. Then, the main music started to play along with the voice and she began to move. I wanted to look to my side to see what Mike's face looked like, but the view was just too enticing to drag my eyes away from. I just couldn't bring myself to do it in fear of wasting my eyesight on anything else.

She gripped the pole slightly and swayed her hips from side to side. It was sort of reminiscent of the time when I stupidly barged into her house. But this time all her inhibitions were let loose and she was doing it properly; sensually feeling the music.

"Let the music flow through your body, Bella," I whispered. I wasn't quite sure if she had heard me or not, but she responded as if she did.

Her movements were more vigorous now, as if the music and the beat had crept inside of her and were playing through the ways of her body. Her hips were now dipping and grinding closer to the pole as she closed her eyes. She was so intoxicated, but it made her dancing absolutely fantastic. She was the one.

"Feel it," I whispered again as I eyed her up and down.

She held onto the pole tighter now and threw her head back. Her right foot lifted to hook around the pole with her heel, causing the silhouette of her body to look sublime. I took this chance to look at Mike, but his expression only mimicked mine: shocked, aroused, stimulated and certainly impressed.

She then leaned back even further and began to turn around the pole, using just her hand and her right foot for support. _Don't fall!_ I chanted over and over in my head, but her turn was perfect, and her eyes were kept half closed and sultry.

I heard cheers coming from behind me and a round of applause. The audience was clearly just as enchanted by Bella as I was. I wasn't even sure if anyone would be concentrating on my other girls that were behind her. Hell, I didn't even realize they were there most of the dance.

As the song built up a crescendo to the chorus, Bella stopped her swaying. The cheering stopped and then turned into a tone of confusion. But she only gave everyone a dark smile which indicated that she had something else up her theoretical sleeve. She looked at me in the eyes, and then brought her left hand to the right strap of her dress. The crowd went absolutely wild as did my cock.

_Oh, fuck._

She walked around to the front of the pole and then turned around, leaving me and the audience a view of her from behind. Her hand still remained on the strap, and then it started to move. I couldn't see her face, but I was sure that she was smiling or giggling. _Stop!_ I wanted to say; I didn't like how these people were looking at her, like she was some kind of meat. But my curiosity stopped me – she was fucking _transcendent. _

She brought the strap down slowly and smoothly whilst bring around her head to flirtatiously look over her shoulder. She looked into my eyes firstly, but then looked back at Mike. He was begging her to stop, like a little dog. I almost agreed with him, but was still glad when she just kept smiling and moving the strap.

Finally, the first strap was down, leaving a lot of bare shoulder except for her bra strap. The purple colour contrasted beautifully with her exceptional ivory skin. Fuck, she was exquisite. She then moved to the next strap, moving it down tastefully and just as smoothly. The straps were both off of her shoulders now, and I was sure that her breasts would have been exposed if she turned around. Face me! I wanted to shout. I felt like a fifteen year old boy – I was fucking reckless. I wanted to pour sugar all over her and lick it right off.

Sure enough, she slowly turned on her toe so that she was facing the audience. There were cheers everywhere and leering men who had just found their new bait: my Bella. Stop looking at her, I wanted to say – was I going fucking mad? I stood still and crossed my arms, as if fighting with myself to resist any temptation to go up on the stage myself and pull her off. I didn't want anyone else to look at her like this except for me.

Trying to veer my mind off from frustration, I looked up at the booth that Carlisle had been observing my show in, and saw that Bella's friend Esme had gone up there. She was whispering in his ear and he was laughing and cheering at Bella's dance. _Momentarily, I forgot about the frustration of Bella dancing up there in front of everyone, but then I wasn't sure to be ecstatic that Carlisle liked her dance, or furious that everyone else did. _

She was turned to the front now, right in mine and Mike's eye-view. He was burying his head in his hands, but also looking through the gaps in his fingers. He knew that anyone would be a fool not to watch this show, but he was humiliated and – I fucking hoped – ashamed of himself.

Her dress shuffled down as she tugged at it, exposing even more of her flesh and I winced. I was conflicted. It was marvellous, I had to admit – I was getting a raging hard on – but if that's how I felt, how would other people be feeling? I looked around at the audience and they were in awe. I didn't like it one bit – but what was I supposed to do?

"Keep going, my love!" an old guy called.

"Yeah, show us what your mama gave you," another one demanded, whilst laughing and nudging his companions.

"Stop it, Bella," I muttered under my breath, wondering if she would even hear me. I couldn't help myself – my words were spilling out of me.

She continued to move her dress down to her knees and then her head was so close to mine after bending. "You wanted me to do this," she whispered.

"Bella," I said in frustration. "You don't have to…" I looked down as my speech trailed off because her dress was now down to her ankles.

As she bent down again to remove the dress from her feet, she looked at me in the eye, causing hoots of congratulations from the audience. "Yes, I do," she said.

I stood back from her. I couldn't watch it anymore – it was no longer as pleasurable as I had anticipated. It almost hurt me that I had forced her to do something like that when she didn't even want to. I had bribed her fiancé and her to come to my club so that she could find him cheating. Why couldn't I just fucking tell her in the first place?

And then I had to force Emmett and James into coaxing her in with free drinks all night, just so she would get drunk and maybe it would enhance my chances with her. What the fuck was I thinking? I'd helped to break the poor girl's heart and now she was being fucking irresponsible.

"_You wanted me to do this"._

I couldn't stand it. For once, I was going to do something good for her, despite how much I wanted to keep watching her show. _Fuck, how I wanted to keep on watching._

I walked up past the bar and past James. He looked at me with a satisfied smirk. "She's fucking brilliant; you were right, Sir," he said to me whilst patting my back. He smiled at me and then brought his eyes back to Bella, obviously as captivated with her act as the rest of the room.

"Can you just stop fucking staring at her?"

The smile was instantly wiped off of his face. All of my staff was tense now ever since the whole Jasper escapade. He looked at me as if he didn't know what he was doing wrong. I sighed.

"Just end the show," I demanded.

"Okay," he gulped and without a second thought walked over to Emmett.

I turned back to Bella who had just undone the clasp of her bra behind her back and then suddenly, the lights went out. Perfect, I thought, even though there was a sudden rush of confusion from the crowd.

As I marched through the leaving crowd, people telling me how great the show was and that they will definitely be returning for that dancer again – _pricks_ – I was met with none other than Carlisle Masen and Esme who was wrapped around his arm. _Who knew,_ I mentally asked myself and waited for his response. And maybe Esme knew where Bella was.

"Absolutely exquisite show, Mr. Cullen – I was very impressed," Carlisle stated as he shook my hand.

"Thank you very much," I responded in a calm and collected manner, even though inside I was a drunken confused mess who just wanted to see Bella.

"I must say the dance at the end was very surprising – I knew that you would fill the pole somehow. The way you made your new dancer look like she had just come out of the audience – much unexpected! Sweet Esme here told me all about your plan afterwards – very intelligent! But I was pleasantly surprised. You shall see my review in almost a week." He smiled and then walked off with Esme and she walked off and winked at me.

I grabbed her hand quickly and whispered, "Where the fuck is Bella?"

She shook my hand off of hers and said, "She said she was staying a bit longer. I guess she wanted to talk to you about something." She gave me an evil glare and then looked back at Carlisle who sort of looked _lovingly_ at her.

I walked back to the stage just to find empty seats there. Everyone had left, even the staff to the back rooms. I was alone.

"Bella?" I called.

There was some movement behind one of the curtains.

"Bella? Is that you?"

Suddenly, someone fell out from the curtains. Sure enough, it was my Bella – a very drunken Bella. I walked over to where she was attempting to stand back up, her dress half on – an obvious drunken attempt to get back to where she was in reality, but she didn't know how.

"You ok?" I asked her. She looked up at me through her doe eyes, her brow furrowed.

"Edward?" she said, confused.

"Bella," I answered.

"Hmmm," she said as she stood up and put her dress on properly. I laughed at her, gently. "I shouldn't be talking to you," she slurred.

I smirked again at her and pushed her hair away from her face so that she could see properly. "And why is that, babe?"

She was about to speak before she stumbled on her own feet. Naturally, I stood in her way so that she fell against my chest. I laughed at her and she couldn't help but laugh, too. "It's because… you call me that… you call me _babe_," she stuttered.

I held her shoulders and moved her off so that I could look at her in the face. Her make up was smudged all over her eyes and she looked a bit of a mess. "I'm sorry, Flowergirl," I apologised.

"Not that either," she giggled. "I just…he said…I don't know…"

I ruffled her hair. "Who says what?"

"He said you're a… you're…a _cock_," she said proudly.

I stopped playing with her hair. "What?"

Suddenly, someone emerged from the curtains and stood near Bella and I. There was suddenly a lump in my throat and something clenching my chest. "Jasper? What the fuck are you doing here?"

"He said…he said he's going to take me home," Bella explained. No fucking way.

"Don't listen to him, Bella," I pleaded while Jasper smiled at me. What the fuck was this? "I'll take you home."

Jasper broke out in guffaws. "What after you've been snorting all that crack? Give us all a break, Edward. I can drive her home."

"I thought I told you to fuck off," I said to Jasper, almost snarling. I grabbed Bella's waist and pulled her close to me.

Then someone grabbed my wrist. "I wouldn't do that man," Jasper stated threateningly. "She's coming home with me."

"Edward…" Bella pleaded with me and shrugged from my grasp. "I want to go with him. He told me how you set this whole thing up just so I could dance for your stupid club! So get…off…of…me!"

"Don't do this," I whispered. "You know you're not thinking straight."

"Well neither are you!" she slurred back. "You were drinking a lot up there! I saw the whiskey bottle!"

"And there was definitely a lot more than that up there…" Jasper muttered and then shook his head.

I was bubbling up with rage; I just could not let this go ahead. I almost wanted to cry. They were right; I was still fucking high, no way fit to drive Bella home, my limo driver wasn't on duty and _fuck_, I couldn't do anything about it. "Right," I accepted, even though my teeth were gritted so harshly that I could have sworn some of my teeth would have grinded away soon.

"Right," Jasper grinned and then took Bella away from me like my last fucking breath.

She looked at me with sadness in her eyes; like her subconscious was still sober and that she was pleading with me to take her home. But her voice betrayed her. "Right," she agreed, but her voice wavered with uncertainty.

I could have insisted that she stayed here and I could have found somewhere for her to sleep. I could have told Jasper to fuck off and added that he never come back again. I could have done many things; but I didn't. As my high was coming down to a severe low, I realized that I had interfered so much in these two people's lives so much already – what right did I have to do it even more? See, this was why I got so fucking high all the time – when I was sober I got all righteous and moral. I wanted another drink.

Jasper walked off, his arm around Bella and a super smug smile to go with it. _Fuck you,_I thought as I watched them leave me. Bella looked over her shoulder at me, but then smiled at Jasper. I continued to watch her, slipping and staggering barley walking in her heels. She was even sexy in that state. Fuck, I needed another drink. I was more whipped than I thought.

As anger crept through me, I staggered the way to my office, prepared to pass out even quicker than I had done the last time. My club had been saved, yeah, but everything else was ruined. The first time I had tried to do a good deed and it had just fucking backfired on me. I didn't need to be good anymore if this was going to happen. What was the fucking point?

I walked up to my office door and paused before I got there. Alice was waiting right next to it. Right, I thought. If Jasper's going to play me like this, I'm going to serve it right back. As soon as I mentally turned Alice into having long brown hair, a cute button nose, gorgeous brown doe eyes and a little bit more meat on her, I called her in.

She smiled at me, awaiting what she knew what was going to happen next – despite what had gone one with Jasper.

"Close the door behind you, babe," I whispered as I sat back in my chair.

Even though I could get off on pretending it was Bella riding me, I was still determined to make that situation authentic. Now, the odds had changed – I was going to have to be a lot badder and work harder. Bella Swan wouldn't know what was coming for her.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Bad Edward's coming back… as if he couldn't get any worse!

Got a couple of announcements on here for readers:

1. Those who are reading "His Darkest Realms", it's coming off hiatus and the new chapter should be posted around the beginning of October. Exciting stuff!

2. Also, my friends and I have started a website called "The Fashion Panel" (thefashionpanel dot wordpress dot com) and we would like some writers for it! You can be any standard and write anything you want about fashion! It's for people who want to gain experience in the journalism field. Let me know if you would like to join! We need as many people as possible. If you don't write but love to read about fashion, please visit the website and feel free to comment on some of the articles. It would be much appreciated!

3.I want to use twitter more! Tweet me guys at edieswan.

Reviews are awesome if you have time. If you don't, I will see you on the next chapter.

ES xxx


	12. Driving Me Crazy

**Author's Note:**

Here is the next chapter - dedicated to all the Alice/Jasper fans.

* * *

_**BPOV**_

His hand was moving up my thigh now and it wasn't stopping – not that I was complaining. He stroked me tentatively there, as if wondering whether to go further.

"Please," I murmured, begging him to keep going.

I looked down at my body and noticed that we were both naked now, but for some reason, I couldn't see all of him; it was too dark. Why was it so dark? However, I was still smiling because despite my impaired eyesight, I knew that he would be beautiful.

His hand reached me there and I instantly moaned in pure ecstasy, wondering whether I would give out just by his one touch. All this time of missing orgasms and playing silly games with him was too much for my body to handle.

"I knew it would be good," I whispered into his ear as he rubbed me ever so skilfully. I managed to emit some sort of laugh slash groan in the midst of this passion. "I knew I would finally give in."

His other hand was moving around the rest of my body, which was certainly intensifying the pleasure elsewhere. His thumb grazed my nipple and then back down around my navel, then to my back before returning to massage my breasts. God, this man was good. Why had I been resisting him for so long?

"Yes," I breathed.

I stared into his eyes as my impending release was building up beyond control; it was finally happening and I was welcoming it with open arms. I could see his gaze permanently on me and his expression never wavering. His intense stare was melting me, as was the feeling that was overwhelming my body. I didn't know whether I was going to live or die. I had forgotten how amazing sex was, but this was just the beginning.

I could feel it coming and there was no way I would let it stop this time. Not with him. "Oh God," I moaned, feeling it beginning to hit me. It was almost here. I bucked my hips up to his touch, merciless and speared. I had known from the first day that this mans stare was different; something intoxicating. And fuck, his fingers were fantastic.

"Bella," he whispered, stopping his hand movements before the most important moment.

"Please," I begged him, tones of desperation dripping off my voice. "Keep going."

"Bella?" he said, his lips not moving. He sat up, leaving my body throbbing and sweating with anticipation and confusion. I needed him to keep going before I burst.

"Wake up," he said in a less gruff voice than I had remembered.

I opened my eyes and looked up at the ceiling straight away. It was light now which was a change from the almost pitch blackness from before. But where was he? Was this the same room? I sat up and rubbed my eyes before I looked at the empty space in the white bed beside me.

"Edward?" I wondered.

"Bella…" a voice said. "It's me."

I looked over at the other side of the room and saw that Blondie was standing in the doorway, sweat pants and an Abercrombie hoodie. He was holding a tray in his arms with a glass of orange juice and what smelt like burnt waffles. Thankfully a bed cover was shielding me as I shamefully removed my own hand from inside my panties. It was just a dream?

"Here," Blondie offered, walking over to the bed with the breakfast tray. "I made you some breakfast, Bella."

I looked at him, eyes wide with confusion. What the hell was I doing here, in Blondie's house? My stomach felt a little bit funny as I looked around the room again, wondering what the fuck was happening. Where had Edward been? And most importantly, what the hell happened last night?

However, for some reason I wasn't up for talking. Firstly, I took the tray. My mouth was awkwardly dry and I needed a drink. Why was my mouth so dry and again, what the hell was I doing here. I supposed talking was the best option.

"Um…" I began, trying to recall his real name rather than my self-made nickname.

"Jasper," he said.

"Right," I said, starting again. "Jasper…" I paused, wondering what to say without sounding impolite. "I don't want to sound rude, but what the hell am I doing here?"

I tried to be polite as possible and without resorting to cowering under the bed like a baby. Did I want to know what was happening here, in a man's room who I didn't even know, without any memory of the night before?

He looked awkward as he sat as far away from me as possible without seeming too unfriendly. He looked down at his hands for a bit until answering, as if he too felt a little bit out of place and uncomfortable. "Well, after the night at Violet was through…" I winced before he continued. I remembered being there. "You came back here…with me," he explained.

I looked at the bed and frowned. I remembered my – amazing – dream and then my embarrassing and ever so naughty hand which prompted me to ask a frighteningly important yet mortifying question. "Okay…" I began. "We didn't… you know, did we?" I said, bracing myself for the answer.

"What?" he asked, innocence tracing his face.

I stuttered and tried to put it into words. God, why did I have to be so prudish? I could feel myself blushing profusely. "We didn't…spend the night together, in this bed…together… did we?"

He paused for a second as if putting together what I had just said, and then he let out a little laugh. "No, Bella – don't be silly! You were so drunk that it probably wouldn't have been possible, darlin'," he giggled. "Plus, it was so late – you just wanted to 'go to sleep and forget the whole night', in your own words," he added.

I tried to laugh back, despite how perplexed I was. Plus, I was cringing at the drunken state I must have been in. "Well, my wish was granted," I said.

Jasper finished laughing. "What do you mean?" he asked. "You don't remember anything?"

"Well," I began, my stomach sinking as I replayed flashbacks in my mind of the events of the evening. "I remember seeing Mike – and don't worry, I remember enough of him to know that I am never going to see that shithead again," I said, shuddering as I thought about my now ex-fiancé, but I would have to go home and cry about that one later. "But I can't remember what I was saying to him, but I do remember shouting very loudly…"

"Do you remember after that?" he asked me.

I thought about it hard, remembering Mike's shocked face as I looked at him, and then Edward's stare at me – as if I was some sort of goddess. He made me feel on top of the world.

"No," I said. "I don't remember anything really after that. Did I pass out?" I had anticipated not – I was sure that I had embarrassed myself enough by making a scene by shouting at Mike. I was sure that what I was saying wasn't pretty and since I had ended up at Jasper's apartment, I was hoping that I had just passed out and gone to sleep – no fuss while getting there. However, I seemed to be wrong.

"You didn't pass out," Jasper stated.

"Oh," I said. "I assumed I did as I can't remember much from that point. Although, I do remember one weird thing. It's going to sound really strange but I can remember Edward staring at me – like, a lot. Does that make any sense to you?"

"Well, yeah," Jasper answered. "He was staring at you all night, darl'."

I didn't say anything back, but I was sure that my blush was speaking a thousand words. My mind suddenly went back to my dream and I felt the bottom of my stomach tighten. Why did it feel so criminal that every time I thought of him, I got that now-familiar feeling? You know, that strange tug throughout your body. It was thoroughly disconcerting – yet it still excited me. I guess I hadn't done something so crazy in such a long time that I was finding everything so over-exaggerated.

"Why?" I asked, looking at Jasper. He looked down again.

"Well, you were pretty drunk…" he began.

I could feel my stomach tightening again – but this time it wasn't out of arousal, it was a mixture of embarrassment and potential fear of what I might have done. I always did embarrassing things when I was drunk, and hated Mike recounting everything like it was the funniest thing in the world in front of our friends, while I tried to laugh along with it even though inside I was shrivelling.

Jasper smiled awkwardly, obviously trying to cover something up. Oh God, Bella, why?

"You were angry at that guy – Mike – and Edward said you would… and then you did…"

"I did what, Jasper?" I demanded.

"Well you were a little pissed, and then the show started but you kept on getting angry at him…"

"Oh God, I didn't hit him, did I?"

"Not exactly."

I frowned. "Then… what the hell did I do?"

Jasper looked like he was trying to dodge the answer, but there was no way he could get out of it now.

"You danced," he replied.

"Danced?" I asked him.

"Yup – on the stage."

No fucking way.

My mouth dropped a few inched before closing to remain what was left of my composure.

"On the… stage?" I stuttered, suddenly receiving flashbacks in my mind of climbing onto something in the middle of bright lights.

"Yes," Jasper smiled as if it were no big deal. He looked like he was about to get up from the bed, but I wasn't completely finished yet.

"Wait, Jasper. I just did a dance on the stage, yeah? Like, a bit of Beyonce or something?"

Jasper laughed. "Well, if Beyonce worked as a pole dancer then yeah, sure."

"I danced on the…"

"On the pole," Jasper gladly confirmed. "Don't worry about it though, you looked pretty hot."

I threw my head into my hands; blushing seemed like an understatement now. "No!" I wailed. "Why is this happening to me?" I asked anyone who would listen. "It always fucking happens to me."

My eyes welled up with tears, which clearly startled Jasper. "Hey," he whispered soothingly. "Don't cry, sweetie. Sometimes bad things happen to people and that's just how the world is. You know, shit happens. But we have to do our best to get through it and make the most of it."

I wailed even more. "But shit always happens to me, Jasper! I don't even know what I've done wrong. I've tried to be a good girl, I really have."

"Then that's all that matters honey," he said. "That you've tried and that makes you a good person. No one thinks badly of you, trust me."

My voice had gone incredibly squeaky and whiny but I was far beyond caring anymore. "Maybe it's better to be a bad person though, I mean, look where it's got Edward! He's so rich and has the best life – and look at me! I've tried to be a nice fiancée, a nice daughter, a good school teacher to the kids, and look where that's got me!"

Jasper put his hand on my shoulder but I shrugged it off.

"I'm broke, I'm single, I'm working in fucking Starbucks and oh yeah, I did a fucking pole dance in one of the most well known strip clubs in the whole city!"

Jasper looked almost solemn and caring, but it did seem as if he had his own worries. "Well," he said. "At least the only way to go from here is up," he consoled.

I laughed. "Yeah, right. Is that what you keep telling yourself?

He laughed back with uncertainty. "Well, yeah, actually."

I sniffed and then wiped my tears and my nose with the back of my arm. I was still wearing my dress from last night – my beautiful and sexy dress. Now, it wasn't really much else but a whore and a failure's dress. It was hard not to burst out sobbing again.

"Here, do you want me to get you some other clothes, honey? I wasn't sure if undressing you was a good idea last night, so I just let you sleep in your dress. I'm sorry if that was the wrong thing to do, Bella – I'm not that good at these types of things," Jasper said.

I smiled at him through my tears. He had all the right intentions, the poor guy. "No thank you, it's okay. That was a good thing to do – God knows what I would have done in my drunken state if you had tried to undress me…" my voice wobbled a little bit before I muttered under my breath, "but I still did a fucking pole dance."

"Are you sure you don't just want a shirt or something? It's still a bit cold in the morning in New York."

"Sure," I answered. "Go on then. Thanks, Jasper."

He left the room to get some attire for me. I thought for a moment and then realised that I had another question for him.

"Jasper?" I called. "What happened after the dance?"

He came back into the room, through me an Abercrombie lumberjack shirt – seriously, the guy could have owned a store – and then smiled sheepishly as I put on the shirt. It was so big on me that you couldn't even see where my dress started and ended. I realised Jasper was avoiding yet another answer, so I winced as I awaited what news he had. It was funny, actually. A tear slipped out of my eye while I sat there; I had never been so embarrassed that I had cried before. Or perhaps it was just forcing all the sorrow I was yet to feel about Mike and how lonely I would now be out. Either one would have been a logical explanation.

Jasper's smile dropped from his face when he saw my tear. "Sorry I keep crying," I whispered.

"Hey, Bella," he said. "Nothing happened after the dance. We just went home."

"What about Edward? Did he say anything?"

Jasper almost recoiled upon hearing that name – something must have happened between them. He hesitated before he spoke. "He just said goodbye and left, alright? Then we went back to my place because I didn't know exactly where your home was, and at that point neither did you. So here we are."

I breathed a sigh of relief, despite Jasper's annoyance in his tone. Part of me was wishing that I had left on good terms with Edward as the weird stomach tug was a certain indication that I couldn't just forget that man easily, despite how much I sometimes wanted to. Another part of me was hoping that everything would just turn out okay, whatever happened.

I attempted a smile. "Thanks Jas," I murmured. "For everything."

Before Jasper could respond, the buzzer went off for his apartment. "Sorry Bella," he said. "Let me just get that and I will be right back. It could be important."

"Sure," I said, and then settled back down into bed wondering what I was going to do next. I inhaled the scent of his shirt curiously and then turned to the other side of the bed to look at the alarm clock on the bedside cabinet. Three o'clock already? I must have slept for hours.

Suddenly, I heard a raised voice and my mind focused and listened to what was going on in Jasper's apartment. He was yelling at someone through the door.

"You're not welcome here anymore, do you hear me? And yes, she did come home with me but what you did was a lot worse. You're coming in? I'd like to see you try."

"Jasper?" I called, getting out of bed. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine, Bella," he called back but then I heard someone banging at the door.

"Yes, she's still here," Jasper started to explain and then the banging stopped momentarily. I went over to where the door was just to check what was going on. Jasper sighed and then looked back at the door that he had just been attempting to block.

A few sobs sounded from outside the door and Jasper's face went from calm and composed to a sublime portrayal of heartbreak. He looked like he was literally about to break. I touched his arm to let him know I was there, whatever he was going through. After all, I didn't really have anyone else at that moment and after he had helped me last night, it was the least I could do. Despite the sleaziness of the Violet auditions and just how the week had panned out, I liked the guy and hoped that maybe we could be friends.

"Who is it?" I asked.

Jasper sighed. "Alice. She works at Violet."

"You love her," I said, reading him like and open book.

"Yes," he answered, running a hand through his hair.

"And she loves you?" I asked him, trying to suss out the situation.

"I thought she did," he answered. "But she chose someone else, and now she thinks that I'm going to let her just come back into my life just like that. I can't do it, Bella, I really can't. I love her too much."

I squeezed him on the shoulder. "Then let her in and see what she has to say. I'm sure there's an explanation behind it," I assured.

"You think?" he asked.

"Well you can only find out if you talk to her," I admitted.

And surprisingly, Jasper listened to me which was sort of a first. I wasn't used to being listened to. A horrible pain shot through me as I was reminded of the wasted eight years of my life spent with Mike. Tears stung in my eyes again, but I continued to encourage Jasper. There had been enough crying already.

As the door opened, I recognised Alice and remembered that I had encountered her a few times before, and one encounter not being so pleasant – in a very questionable position with Edward. Was he the other person she had chosen? Had Edward chosen her?

However, Alice looked a lot different to how she did at Violet, especially as she looked on at Jasper. She wasn't wearing any make up but she was wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans with pumps. Her hair wasn't her usual preened and styled – it was messy and sticking up in the wrong places. And her face, well, it just looked distressed. If I still hadn't felt weird about how I found her with Edward, I would have wanted to give her a big hug.

"Nice dance last night," she scowled at me. I blushed and then moved back in response to the sudden hostility from Alice. Then, I realised that I was in her man's shirt and in her man's apartment.

"Oh," I said, attempting to explain. "This isn't what it looks like, I swear."

"Oh really?" she said. "That isn't what Edward…" but then Jasper cut her off.

"What Edward said doesn't matter, you still chose to stay with him over me," Jasper spat.

I felt highly awkward standing in between the two of them, but what was I supposed to do? It wasn't even my apartment and I had no idea where it was situated in New York – if it even was.

"Well, Edward told me that he's willing to give you your job back and that he's sorry," Alice said. "Everyone wants you back there, Jasper. Especially me."

"Edward fired you?" I said, silence failing me.

"Long story," Jasper explained. "And I'm not going back after that happens, Alice. I can't go through with it any more, the way he calls you in right in front of me. I've put up with it for long enough, and I shouldn't have to do that."

Alice looked like her heart was melting. Her man was finally sticking up for himself. "Jasper, you know it's always been you! And I spoke to Edward this morning and he said that if I could get you back, then there would be no office work for me anymore! We could finally be together!"

Jasper's eyes widened at the prospect. I just wondered what "Office Work" meant. Perhaps it was better that I was ignorant.

"I've been trying to phone you, text you and email you, but you wouldn't answer me, Jasper. We all just want you to come back. Edward wants you to come back."

Jasper breathed heavily. "As great as all that sounds, Alice, we know Edward and we know that he wouldn't just suspend your office work just for someone else's benefit if it didn't benefit himself. What is there that's pushing him to do it? I don't want to go back knowing that I might have to share you again."

"You won't have to, Jasper. I only want you," she said, lovingly. I could even see the love in both of their eyes, and I didn't even know them. It was almost painful to watch, since I knew that the love life of my own had been well and truly abolished.

"He said it, Jas, I promise. He said if you came back to work for him and that I stayed, he would cut off office work for me so we can be together."

"And why would he suddenly decide to do this, after this whole year of constant fucking office work?"

"Because Jacob's back."

I had remembered Edward talking of Jacob when we walked together near the open jazz bar. He had talked fondly of him and I remembered being pleased that the man had friends and some sort of compassion. He seemed to look up to this guy, but resent him in some way. I couldn't wait to see what Jasper's reaction to Jacob's return was. It was as if I was having my own lesson about Edward's personal world.

"Jake's back?" he smiled.

"Yes!" Alice laughed, and then Jasper laughed with her, ran up to her and then they kissed passionately. I smiled at the love that they had for each other, but my pain kept coming back and hitting me.

I was about to make a break for the door and leave them to it, but then Jasper started to speak again.

"But wait, Alice," he started. "I know Jacob's going to change a lot by being around but this is still Edward we're talking about – he's not going to give up on all of his lifestyle and fucking every girl he sees just because Jake's back. There has got to be an ulterior motive somewhere a long the line."

"Well, yeah, there is one thing that's making Edward crazy," Alice said.

"There's always something making Edward crazy – probably the crack," Jasper said, stroking the hair back from Alice's face.

"Yeah, well he's different this time. Trust me, this hasn't really happened before."

"Oh really? And what's making him crazy this time?"

I listened closely. Alice turned to me.

"Her," she said, pointing now.

They both looked at me and I almost felt compelled to look at myself. Me? Edward was acting crazy because of me? Surely he acted that way with most girls – that's why he had them falling at his feet every second of the day. This was all too much – I had to leave to sort my head out.

"I've got to go," I said quietly, mumbling some sort of excuse to make my way. "Thanks for everything Jasper. I hope it all works out."

"You too, Bella," he said understandingly, putting his arm around Alice as she looked on at me.

I walked down the stairs of the block of apartments; it looked like a nice neighbourhood and the place was pretty snazzy – I guess Edward paid pretty well.

Edward.

Why was it so impossible to stop thinking about him, even when I had just found out my fiancé had been cheating on me all this time? Were my priorities really that fucked up? Alice said that I was making him crazy, but I think she had it the wrong way round.

Even that dream which seemed so disappointingly realistic was something I couldn't exactly fathom well. I was hurting from Mike – of course I was – but the sexual prominence of Edward was still there. The loin and stomach tugging from before had taken more of a backseat rather than being completely gone. I hated the fact that I could admit I was feeling something so freely for him inside of my head, but I couldn't exactly help it.

However, at that moment in time – the moment of my so called momentary break down, - I decided to temporarily discard my sexual feelings for Edward and my emotional regret for Mike and try and think about them when I got home rather than breaking down in the middle of the street.

Luckily it was a Sunday and I didn't have to work, because as I finally found my home by recognising a sort of familiar street near Jasper's apartment, I walked straight into my bedroom and collapsed on the bed. I didn't even remember to feed my cat.

Straightaway, I sighed. And then I began to sob.

I cried a lot.

After the tears momentarily ceased, I looked up at the ceiling and in almost under a second, I imagined a pair of green eyes on me, my hands slipped beneath the elastic of my panties and for the rest of the night, I was gone.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

So Bella is having very conflicted feelings at the moment, the poor girl. However, as Jasper stated, the only way to go from here is up. Let's hope she takes Edward with her!

Stories I'm reading at the moment: Seven Day Weekend by JandMsMommy (bad-ass olden day Ed & Bel) and also Bring on the Wonder by Bronzehyperion (Priestward & Whorella) - Go and read.

Plus, as you all should know, I'm on twitter and my tweets are GREAT. Follow me under _edieswan_.

And finally, please leave a review if you have time. They seriously, yet sadly, make my day.

LOTS OF LOVE XXX


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